One Small Spark
by Khadrimx
Summary: Set in the Danger Days Killjoys-Verse created by the band My Chemical Romance, this story is based around their concept and not the band members themselves. Can the Killjoys overcome the pharmaceutical dictatorship of Better Living Industries?
1. Burn Down the Bar

Dust covered lamps flickered overhead in the nearly empty bar filling it with a dim light. Closing time was only two hours away but it didn't mean anything other than the sign saying they were open would flicker off. Those who wanted to drink after hours would still come in for a drink and the owner wouldn't do much about it. He welcomed patrons of all sorts, it didn't matter what their alignment was in these tumultuous times.

The front doors swung open and the bartender glanced away from cleaning the musty glass in his hand to make sure it wasn't anyone he should worry about then back down to his cleaning. He had a shotgun hidden under the bar just in case things became unsavory. The man who had entered the bar was a regular he recognized and the bartender knew he wouldn't cause anything other than the usual trouble which he was perfectly capable of handling. There was little conversation in the bar at the time other than the quiet hum of the AM Radio as it rattled off advertisements and the latest news stories. It was required by law for all establishments in and around Battery City to have some kind of news transmitted in their place of business. Any establishment found without it would be shut down and the owner of the business punished to the full extent of the law.

_"__**This just in!**__ We have reports of terrorist activity within the walls of Battery City. For your safety we strongly recommend that you are indoors by sundown, which happens at approximately half past seven this week. If found outdoors after sunset our officers from Better Living Industries will be more than happy to escort you somewhere safe where you can rest until the daylight hours. And remember… Better Living for a better life…"_ The radio buzzed for just a moment as it often did at random then continued on about the recent terrorist activity within the city; fires at local storage buildings, children gone missing, the usual messages being delivered on the radio designed to fill its listeners with fear.

"Can you believe that bullshit? Those _terrorists?_" The man who had just entered the bar for the night said as he approached the bartender, grabbing the pint of beer he'd ordered and turning back to walk to the only other table that was occupied by a man who he was clearly speaking to. He didn't make any effort to keep his voice low since the only other patron that night didn't seem to be paying much attention to anything outside of her glass and something small in her hand. She looked too out of it to even notice he was alive nonetheless talking. The man who was already at the table didn't even raise his head to acknowledge his friend, but his mumbling echoed throughout the empty dim bar and was barely intelligible.

"Hmm? What about who?"

"Didn't you see the poster outside on the door?"

"Oh, what about it? Was hard to miss considering how damn big it is."

"Can you believe those fucking goons are still running around? Those _Killjoys?_" The instigator leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through the black hair that was falling down into his face to push it away over a large scar that ran down from his forehead and beneath his right eye. His friend stayed silent but did manage to at least move his head so he was looking up at his friend through the amber liquid that only half filled the mug in front of him. "Fucking anarchists, that's what they really are, hiding behind some fake _cause_. They're always causing trouble in the damn zones and now _inside_ the city? Nowhere is safe, I tell ya! I can handle it outside the zones, but when Battery City isn't even safe from their pathetic antics anymore, enough is _enough!_" His friend chuckled and pushed his long graying hair out of his face. He bore the marks of a business man who liked to pretend he wasn't one after work, wearing a way too clean leather jacket and sporting a well trimmed beard. He opened his mouth to speak but his friend interrupted yet again, clearly on a rant that he'd been thinking about all day, perhaps longer.

"We are constantly suffering for their crimes against Better Living… All these curfews, and the rations now too because of the food they steal for God only knows what! Like we don't have enough rules to follow already or anything so they have to go and screw shit up for the rest of us law abiding citizens! Kill every goddamn one of them I say! Let 'em hang! Set an example for the rest of 'em!" They stopped for a second, hearing the flick of what they would've described as someone using an old lighter. They looked around but only saw the woman at the bar and the bartender sitting there and neither seemed to be paying much attention to them.

The man leaning his head down perked up and picked up his beer after this. "Better yet, imprison 'em, torture 'em! Teach 'em a real lesson. Why should they be put out of their misery while we still suffer everyday for what they've done? Let them be the ones to suffer, not us! It's only right, only just." The two men burst into raucous laughter, amused by their own cleverness in the situation. It was an empty sort of laughter, that made even the bartender behind them make a face of disgust. The scarred man picked up his glass and held it out to his friend happily.

"Cheers! Drinks are on me for the whole bar when I see those idiots humiliated on the front page of the paper! Hell, I'll even buy a copy to frame." The clanking of the glasses seemed louder than it should've been echoing through the bar and they both took a hefty drink from them in celebration.

The bartender was still scrubbing the same spot off of the glass he held that he had begun to scrub ten minutes ago when the man with the scar had entered. He wasn't really scrubbing, he was listening and watching the reactions of the woman at the bar. She wasn't going to be pleased by what she heard and he was hoping that he could prevent an incident before it happened. This particular patron was one of his favorites but also one of his most dangerous. Over the years, he'd developed a particular nap for keeping her calm. He could tell she wasn't pleased by the way she was tossing her favorite lighter around in her hands. He hated that damn thing, she was always getting herself into trouble with it and he'd pulled her out of more than one scrape because of it, too. He saw her cock her head to the side and realized she was contemplating making some kind of move or joining the conversation behind her.

"Frenz, it's not worth it…" He muttered under his breath and then hung his head as she pushed her stool back just a little bit, the sound of the scraping against the concrete floor unusually loud. He had tried, not very hard albeit, but there wasn't much he could do once she had made up her mind.

"Excuse me," She spoke to the men without even turning toward them. She hadn't been drinking, not right now, but she held a lighter covered in graffiti of her own making and she was flicking it with a shaky finger so that it sparked every few seconds. It seemed more like a nervous tic than a threatening gesture. The flame seemed to calm her in a way. "Let me take a wild guess here… and say that you're both happily married, right? You both have safe… desk jobs that you work at reliably everyday with benefits and pensions. I'm sure you both come here every weekend and talk a good game but you never actually do a damn thing about the shit you complain about. You wouldn't actually do shit to a Killjoy if you saw one, nonetheless say any of that shit to their face. I bet you wouldn't even look them in the eye. You go right back to your cushy little lives and take pride in the fact that you're just like everyone else around you. _Blind._ You live in your sheltered little world in Battery City and you venture out into Zone Four, the last safe zone for people who don't know how to handle a laser and you call yourselves tough?" She flipped the lighter closed and leaned up so she wasn't hunched over the bar anymore. She tapped the bar in front of her to signal to the bartender that she wanted a drink. "You're worse than pathetic."

The bartender grabbed a shot glass and filled it up to the brim for her, the way that he knew she liked and she picked it up and downed it as quickly as he had poured it. She set it down, still not turning around to face them. She knew if she turned around she'd act on impulse and she didn't want to end up burning down that particular bar. She liked the place and that meant a lot since there were so few places she was even welcome those days. Her reputation often out people at unease.

Both men stared at the back of her in confusion for a moment, unsure if she was even talking to them or to herself. They were both light shades of pink on their cheeks in embarrassment and unsure of how to even respond to such a spot on assumption about their lives.

"Listen _sweetheart,_ you don't know what you're talking about." The man with the scar managed to collect himself and stared at the woman with a false cocky smile. She flicked open the lighter again and lit the flame, staring at the orange and yellow hues as they danced on top of the metal item in her hand. She could burn them up right there and no one would catch her or even pursue her.

"Yeah, mind your own goddamn business!" The man with the longer hair chimed in much to the amusement of his scarred friend. They seemed cockier when they were working together.

The bartender winced at these words and furrowed his brow with concern for his bar. "Bad idea…" He turned to the woman and placed his hand down in front of her, nervous about the fate of his establishment, his eyes pleading. "Please don't burn down my bar…"

"Don't worry, Harvey." She pushed her barstool further back and got off of it, hopping a little bit as she got down, just to gain her balance. "I'm in control of this, for now." She kept the lighter in her hand, the sound of it clicking to life calmed her down. She didn't mean she had control over the situation, just over herself because often she found that she didn't. "I should mind my own business, hmm? Alright, I'll mind my own business but… let me ask you _gentlemen_ something first." Flicking the lighter once more, she walked slowly toward them. They stared at her, trying not to seem intimidated but something about her unsettled them. "Have either one of you ever broken the law before?" Neither man responded to her, just merely exchanged glances with the other and turned back to her. She had more on her mind than these creeps and maybe that was why she just couldn't resist temptation.

_Dirt flew up around her feet as she sped off road in the desert on her way to catch up with the caravan on her old motorcycle. She had her bandana over her face to cover her mouth and goggles over her eyes to keep the dirt away, her mask flipped up over her head. They wouldn't hear her coming over the noise of the diesel engines of their massive militarized trucks. With any lucky they wouldn't notice they were missing the very last truck until she had taken off long after. She needed supplies to build new weapons to sell, and she had received a reliable tip that she could get them on that caravan. She was known to take stupid risks to get supplies but this time her source was foolproof._

_ She sped to a stop and leaned on one foot, keeping the engine on her old motorcycle running. Pulling from the side of the motorbike she lifted what looked like an old machinegun, colorful and festive, covered in scribbles describing its usage. She held it on her shoulder, and unfolded a scope on the side. She glanced through it, saw the last truck in the caravan was lagging a little behind already and fired a single shot off. She lowered the gun, started to put it away and sped off before the tire had even popped on the truck. She knew there was no chance she had missed; she'd practiced shots like that far too many times. The truck swerved and came to a stop in a puff of dust and smoke as the other trucks drove away, not noticing they were missing their tail end. She watched as the rest of the trucks faded from view, as the sounds of their engines disappeared and made sure they didn't realize something had gone amiss. When she knew they weren't coming after the truck she approached it. She had a window of a half an hour if she was lucky._

"Have you ever even gotten close to any of the Draculoids? Have you even seen them in person before outside of on your television screen? Have you _ever_ run into the Scarecrow on a dark night? Have you ever seen the whites of the eyes of one of those masked enforcers right before you blew their brains out all over their damn masks? Have you ever had one of them point a laser at your head and ask you to get on your knees and beg for forgiveness before they blew wasted you on the concrete?" She spoke low, low enough that they would have to listen very hard to hear her over the sound of the radio and they were. Despite her small feminine stature, something about her demanded attention. She was still slowly approaching, biding her time as she tried to decide what punishment they would receive for their misguided words tonight.

_She ditched the motorcycle when she got too close; it was easier to aim her laser gun while she was walking rather than driving. She'd retrieve it on her way back with the supplies she needed. She fired two shots from in front of the truck and hit her targets with both. She walked over to the driver's side door and opened it, the body of the Draculoid who had been sitting there falling in front of her. She kicked him so he was on his back and pulled off his costume mask. She fired a shot into his face and then did the same to the Draculoid lying already dead in the passenger's seat. _

_ She never trusted them, they were notorious for trickery. She'd once had one fake his death and ended up getting shot in the arm and nearly lost it due to an infection that followed afterward. She'd never let that happen again and always shot them in the head every single time even after she was sure they'd died from some other wound. Paranoia was sometimes a good thing, at least in this dangerous world. She dug through the papers scattered throughout the front seat, climbing in for only a moment, ignoring the blood splattered on the windshield in front of her. She wasn't squeamish, not anymore. Years ago after she'd made her first kill maybe, but those days of innocence had long since passed._

_ She slammed the glove compartment closed after she couldn't find the shipment invoice for that particular truck and leaned her head back against the back of the seat. She didn't want to waste her time there if the truck didn't have what she was looking for but at the same time she didn't want to leave empty handed. She looked around on the dashboard and found the button that would unlock the steel door on the back of the truck and hopped out of the front seat, stepping over the corpse of the driver casually. They wouldn't send an empty truck into the desert, not this far, so she would find its contents and reap what these fuckers didn't deserve. She glanced around to make sure no one was approaching quite yet, then walked to the back of the truck, reaching for the metal handle to help her lift the steel door, hoping she'd find her prize inside: one worthy of her efforts._

_"Eliminating danger so you can sleep at night, Better Living, for a better life…"_ The familiar voice of the evening announcer echoed over the radio, bringing her back from her thoughts to reality.

"Have you ever found the body of a child in the back of a truck who choked to death on the fumes in Zone Six because the Dracs didn't bother with gas masks for them? Have you ever wondered how many of them died like that or just how many unmarked graves are out there?" Her eyes flashed dangerously, her mind was clearly elsewhere as she walked toward them. They had a feeling she was talking from experience and that frightened them.

_The metal of the door creaked eerily in the quiet desert. The back of the truck was nearly completely empty, except for something covered in a sheet in the back of it. It looked like something soft, perhaps food or blankets or at least that was what she thought. She jumped inside without much effort, knowing already that the weapons and materials she wanted to obtain weren't in that truck but her curiosity got the best of her and if anything was of value in that piece of shit truck then she was going to take it and use it or give it to someone who needed I more than she did. Besides, she didn't want to make this trip just a waste of gas and valuable ammunition._

_ The closer she got the heavier the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach became. She knew what it was before she'd even reached the pile over in the corner. She could see the forms beneath the sheet, they were distinct and she could only hope she was mistaken. She pulled the sheet off of the form beneath it and cursed under her breath. Two small boys, probably no older than nine years old, covered in dirt and worn clothes too big for them were lying there, looking quite dead. She could smell it now that they were uncovered, the all too familiar sent of death in the air. It was so thick she could taste it. She pulled the bandana away from her face and tried to breathe but panic gripped at her lungs. They were fucking kids, fucking kids and these bastards didn't give a shit what happened to them as long as they delivered them to god only knows where. She could only imagine why the hell they wanted them in the first place. _

_ She turned and paced through the truck in an attempt to calm down then screamed and cursed and yelled in frustration. She slammed her fists into the side of the truck, punching it over and over again, kicking at the metal, then pacing back and forth, throwing her hands into the air. She then turned to face the desert which suddenly stopped her movements altogether, seeing how the sun was peeking in making everything a brilliant orange hue. She stopped yelling and pushed her hands back through her hair while taking a deep breath._

_ "Calm down, just calm the fuck down. Calm the fuck down or you'll die too, Frenzy."Her heart was still beating a mile a minute in her chest but she knew that she didn't have time to flip out. Her hands began to throb and blood dripped down onto her mask. She glanced up and saw that her knuckles were bloody and bruised. She barely remembered how many times she hit the side of the truck which was now dented where she'd taken out her frustrations. She turned back to the bodies of the two little boys there and knew she had to do something, despite her disgust with the situation._

"What are you? One _of them?_" The man with the longer hair asked nervously, trying to sound like he was joking but he was starting to fear that this woman might actually try to hurt them simply because they were joking around.

"One of them? A Killjoy? No, no I don't affiliate with the Killjoys." She raised her eyebrows, brought back to reality for just a moment, looking at the man in response. Her eyes were still distant, but it only made her seem crazier. "But at least they try to make a fucking difference while people like you sit around and criticize them even though you know damn well what is happening right outside your door after the _recommended_ curfew. They at least try to live their lives, even if it's harder than just doing what you're fucking told." She spat at them. "You say they should be killed? Tortured? Punished? _You_ should be fucking punished, all of you who sit around and joke about a reality you choose to ignore. It's people like you that make it necessary for the Killjoys to even exist."

_The smell of gasoline was overwhelming but calmed her nerves as she poured it over the front seat and the bodies of the Dracs she had killed to get this truck under her control. She walked around it casually, splashing gasoline in the dirt, in the back of the truck, over the tires and on just about every surface she could find and reach. She stuck a rag in the gas tank, as she had gotten so good at, and picked up her container of gasoline. She brought one with her everywhere; fire was all she needed to cleanse the earth of these fuckers. It was what she needed to cleanse her mind more than anything. The fire was a purifying thing, a flame that didn't care about good or evil, or any of the bullshit they sold in fairy tales._

_ The can was empty, out of fuel, by the time that she had walked around the perimeter of the truck. She grabbed a soft rock and made a tick mark on the side of the gas can, next to nearly forty others, barely visible over the various graffiti she'd drawn on the tank over the years. She attached it back to her motorcycle with a custom clip and looked up, hearing the sound of an engine in the distance. She couldn't see the trucks or the vans but she could see the cloud of dirt they formed in the desert and knew they were approaching her now. She knew they were coming for the truck they'd lost in the caravan and she knew they would be coming with guns. It was now or never._

"What is it? Why are you defending them if you don't work for them? Just to bust our balls?" The scarred man spoke in a tone that clearly said he wanted to kick her ass, but his face showed an apprehension he couldn't shake. She knew at that moment he was exactly what she had accused him of being.

_The lighter in her pocket was always there talking to her, reminding her that she needed it. It felt cool in her hands now, like it knew that it had a job to do with her. She kissed the side of it, flipped it over in her hands and flicked it open, holding it close to her face. She flicked the fire on and stared at it for a long moment, bewitched by the flame._

"No, I don't work for anybody… but tolerance for the abuse that goes on in Battery City and the surrounding zones pisses me off. You needed to be taught a lesson and Harvey's far too nice to say it to your face."

_ She had to go quickly and the extra weight on her bike from the bodies of the two murdered children she'd tied to the backseat was slowing her old motorcycle considerably. The dust flew up around her, and she narrowed her eyes through the goggles she wore to see her destination better. The last thing she needed now was to get in an accident and trash her motorcycle and her escape in the process. She knew that the oncoming assault would reach the truck soon and then they'd be on her tail. After a moment she heard an earsplitting explosion, one that she had expected to come. She turned the motorcycle and rested her foot on the ground, watching as the orange and red hue of the fire filled the air in the distance. She was further than she thought she had gotten in the time that had passed. She watched the fire, sure that it was enough of a distraction to get away safely, then turned the motorcycle back around and drove off, knowing the bodies of the children were secure. Even though they were dead, she wasn't going to let the Dracs erase them. She'd promised that to herself a long time ago._

Both men stared at her, afraid she was going to do something to them, she clearly seemed unstable, and the way she kept flicking that lighter over and over in her hand left them unsettled and fidgeting in their chairs. Her fiery red and orange outfit, outlandish as it was, made her seem like she could start a pretty decent fire and the soot scattered in her red and black hair seemed to suggest that she had indeed done so and recently at that.

"You're both lucky that I like this place, or I'd burn it to the ground with you tied to your fucking chairs." She turned away from the men, gathering her wits and heading back over to the bar, slipping the bartender a few dirty looking coins. As they spun on the counter the sound of them echoed throughout the bar. "Thanks for the drink, Harvey. I'll see you soon." Harvey let out a sigh of relief as she turned to leave, clearly thankful he wasn't going to have to combat a fire anytime soon. It wouldn't be the first time he would've had to because of the woman.

_ Nightfall came quicker now that the atmosphere had gotten so polluted outside of the city. The toxic waste that was dumped in the outer zones made the air poisonous and hid the sun as it got too close to the horizon in a haze, before the earth even could. She had been working for hours out in Zone Four, digging in the darkness. This place was always abandoned and no one wanted to be bothered with it so she knew it was a safe haven. She wouldn't stop even though her arms were aching and her body was dirty and covered in sweat. She kept digging the two holes until they were deep enough to bury the children she'd found. She stood up straight, her head peeking out of the hole, glancing at the makeshift tombstones she'd created for others in the past._

_ Maybe someday she wouldn't have to do this anymore; maybe one day she could end the body count once and for all and hopefully before she had to look for a new safe place to bury those kids. She realized that she'd just been staring at the tombstones, that all the moisture on her face was no longer just from the sweat and cleared her throat. She didn't have time to waste staring and getting lost in her own mind. She'd lost it so long ago she knew if she lingered too long she might not find a way out._

_ She threw the shovel out of the hole and pulled herself out of it easily despite the soreness in her arms. After years of doing things like this, she'd gotten pretty damn good at all the physical strength it took to do it, it was the emotional strength she lacked. She had wrapped up both the bodies of the boys before she had started to dig. She drew crosses over where their faces were and gently placed them each in one of the holes. They had been loved by someone once even if it had just been another orphaned child, and she refused to let them share graves. They deserved better than to be dumped into some mass grave without names. She didn't believe in God, the cross was more for luck, or in case they had once believed in something like that. Just because she'd given up hope in something better, didn't mean those children had and she hoped that they never did._

_ She stared at the holes for a long moment and had to shake herself free once again of the mental strife before she could bury them. She walked over to her motorcycle and pulled the photos out of the satchel she kept on the back of the motorcycle. She'd found an old Polaroid camera a few years ago and had managed to continue stealing film for it for years. She refused to use any other camera than that one; she was like that with a lot of things though. She shook them once more, even though she knew that she wasn't supposed to or the colors in the film could bleed. The faces of the dead boys reflected back at her, eyes closed, looking sound asleep but pale enough to see there was no life left in their little faces. She hid the photos, looking at them too long would make her lose it and she just couldn't afford that._

She walked outside and pulled her jacket tighter around her to keep out the chilled fall air. Even in the desert, the nights got cold. She looked around the parking lot and saw her motorcycle and the familiar old truck that Harvey had given her a ride in several times. She spotted two other cars parked on the other side of the building and casually walked toward them. She stopped at the outside trashcan and picked up an old shirt that had been discarded. She tore it to pieces and investigated the two cars. She closed her eyes and recalled the faces of the men in the bar she had just scared the piss out of. She'd teach them a lesson they wouldn't soon forget and she'd get her fix at the same time. The lighter felt like it was trying to burn a hole out of her pocket all night long.

She shoved the cloth rag into the blue sedan's gas tank after cracking the cap. She made sure that it reached gasoline and started to saturate the rag then went and repeated the same with the black station wagon next to it. She flicked the lighter and lit the rags then turned away from the scene, walking over to her motorcycle. She stared at it and decided to leave it there for the night then turned to walk down the street.

_ Steel walls covered in photographs, sketches, rants and various newspaper articles surrounded her as she flipped on the light overhead. She sat down at the barstool she kept in front of a poorly put together steel table and put both the photos in front of her once again. She found an orange marker and set it down on top of them. It felt disrespectful to give them numbers but she had never had any names for any of them. They were all nameless lost souls when she found them but she'd promised she'd never forget they had once lived. She drew the number seven on the bottom of the first photo, personalizing it in any way that she could with various doodles and symbols. _

_ After doing the same for the next photo but with the number eight, she picked them up and got up from the stool. She walked across the room, and through a small door she kept hidden as well as she could behind shelves and boxes of ammunition without making it too hard to access. She lit her lighter and then the candle that was on the desk. It flickered across the walls that were all bare except for a few photos hanging in the back. She grabbed a couple of old rusted tacks and stuck the photos she had just decorated up on the wall next to the other six._

_ The dead children spoke to her, begged her to keep this from happening but she wasn't sure she could ever find a way to really make it stop even though she'd been trying for years. The task had nearly destroyed her mentally and physically on many occasions. "I'm sorry." On a shelf to the left held all her secrets and it was yelling at her too. "I can't right now." She quickly extinguished the candle's flame with her thumb and forefinger and walked out of the room. She instantly felt saner as she left the room. Closing her eyes, she leaned against the door and took a deep breath. She was losing it again. She needed relief before it got too bad. There was just one more thing she had to do before she went out to find a distraction._

_ "Fuck."_

She needed a different kind of fix now that she'd started the fire she wanted. As she heard the sudden burst of flames behind her a smile crept over her lips, she was satisfied that the overly confident men would learn their lesson. The flames warmed the air even from so far away and she couldn't help but steal a glance before heading off in search of some relief. Lovely hues of every color lit the sky but the bar remained untouched. She could hear yelling in the distance and knew that the men were likely frantically panicking about what had become of their vehicles.

As she stood still and watched, her hands trembled. She clenched her fists and glanced down her uncontrollably shaking hands. It wasn't adrenaline, and it most certainly wasn't caused by fear. Frenzy knew that she'd already waited too long and started walking again down the street, in search of something she'd only find in the party scene.


	2. Assassinate

The old towns were always deserted in these parts, except for people who were looking for trouble and she was definitely there looking for trouble and then some. She revved the engine of her worn purple motorcycle to make it go faster, pressing her body closer against the metallic frame so that she could avoid getting the dirt she stirred up in her face as much as possible. It'd reflect off of her helmet's visor but she had very low visibility this far out in the zones to begin with. The air was toxic and thick this far out but the air purifier in her helmet would help her breathe as long as she didn't crack it. The poison left the air with a thick yellowish haze that always left her feeling unsettled. She half expected monsters to come sneaking out of the sand at any moment to attack her.

The midday sun reflected off of her sparkling silver helmet to create a blinding light. It wasn't exactly what someone would wear if they were trying to stay stealthy, but this far out in the zones she could risk wearing it and drawing some attention to herself since it's likely no one would be able to see her anyway. She'd never run across anyone out this far before and she didn't think today would be the day she did.

She had to keep focused, which was a lot harder than it sounded since she had a million things running through her head. No one came into the outer zones without a real reason to, and she certainly had a good enough reason. Riding through this gas was risking death. One crack, one leak in her mask and she'd breathe in the toxins floating in that yellow haze. It wouldn't kill her right away, that'd be too simple. If her mask filled up then she'd surely choke to death in a matter of moments. From as far as she could remember from the rumors she'd heard about the effects of the gas, she'd lose her vision first, then the rest of her senses until her body became rigid with pain and she choked to death as her lungs shut down. Unfortunately that could take hours, depending on how much gas she inhaled. Her lungs surely wouldn't be the first organ to shut down; it'd be more likely that her kidneys would go first. The pain that she'd feel would be horrific.

A chill ran down her spine and she shook it off. Even a crack in her helmet and she could go blind, which in itself would probably leave her dead here in the last of the habitable zones, though she wouldn't really call this habitable. She came to a stop, turning her bike so it would face in the opposite direction. She'd recently been in touch with a powerful arms dealer whose name she didn't know. She was told that here at these coordinates, just inside the gates that held off the radiation from the outskirts of the zone, would be a case with everything she'd need for her mission.

She got off of her bike and walked over to where she saw the beat up old suitcase just lying there. She knelt down near the suitcase and brushed her fingers over it. There was nothing written on it, but there was a small flame symbol burnt into the side of it. She grabbed it by the handle and walked over to her bike. She'd have to rig something to attach the case with but it wouldn't take very long for her to do. She was pretty good at improvising in sticky situations.

_"Disco." _

_ She looked up from her notebook where she was practicing her Japanese writing and shut it as she saw who it was. The red jacket would have been telltale enough but the bleached, nearly white, pompadour was a dead giveaway that Kobra Kid wanted her attention for something. She closed her book and set it down in her lap, folding her legs in the process, not needing to respond vocally to let him know he had her attention solely. _

_ "Poison wants to see you." When she didn't get up from where she was sitting, he sat down next to her and leaned his elbows back against the table. He didn't turn to look at her so she knew it wasn't a personal call. Usually Kobra was engaging, funny, and casual but right now she knew it was all business and she wasn't going to find out why Poison wanted to see her right now from him. "He's waiting. And I don't think he has a lot of patience for this either."_

_ He wasn't trying to threaten her or anything, but the leader of the East faction of the Killjoys here in zone three didn't have a lot of patience for much of anything. If she didn't go to him now then he would give the job to someone else, if it was a job at all. Either that or she would have to hunt him down at whatever mess he had gone and gotten himself into._

With some old wire she had in the small storage compartment in the back of her motorcycle, under the seat she had managed to tie the suitcase to the side of her transport. She tugged on it to make sure it wouldn't fall off once she had gained some speed. After that she had gotten out of the seventh zone as fast as she possibly could. It unsettled her there because of how everything was just so damn quiet all the time. If she died out there no one would find her and that bothered her more than anything else about the place.

She drove for a few hours, stopping to park outside of an old bar in the third zone on the West side of Battery City. This wasn't her destination but it was easier to hide her vehicle in a crowded parking lot than it would be out in the emptiness that was the west end of zone four. She ditched her helmet with her bike and headed past the sheds and crude shelters that were littered across the third zone.

No one stared at her here but people had long since learned to avoid eye contact with strangers out of fear of it being the wrong person out in the zones. She carried the case she had collected out in the last zone and resisted the curious urge to look inside of it to find out what kind of gun she would be using for this job. She knew it was one with a scope which was rare to find these days. This was going to be a clean job though, no mess left behind so she'd do it from afar and hopefully with no witnesses so no one would suspect what exactly she was up to on this end of Battery City.

_Party Poison had his yellow mask up on the top of his head, holding his red hair out of his face and exposing the shaved sides of his head. He was hunched over his yellow and blue ray gun and he had the whole handle torn off. Part of it looked burnt and she was sure that he was just experimenting with it and hadn't gotten into a fight. He was flicking a strange lighter in his hand and staring at it with a look of confusion. She cleared her throat after she realized he had no idea she was even there._

_ He immediately looked up at her and flicked the lighter closed, shoving it into his pocket only to pull it back out a moment later. He seemed infatuated with it._

_ "You wanted to see me?"_

_ "Yeah I did." He got up, moving his ray gun onto a small worn desk next to where he had been sitting and he paced around in front of it, obviously trying to choose his words wisely. "Disco Bitch…" He couldn't help but smile just a little bit, the name always amused him. "I need you to take care of something for me."_

_ "Alright, name the objective." She shrugged casually. She was usually the one sent on this gruesome sort of mission since no one else ever volunteered. She had years ago learned to separate herself from the gore that would be murdering another human being._

_ "Tiger Beatdown." He waited on her reaction which was exactly as he had assumed it would be._

_ "Another Killjoy? You want me to take care of… one of our own? Not even just one of our own…" She held her hand in front of her skeptically and gave him a look that displayed her confusion and disgust on the issue. "He's the leader of the West faction of Killjoys. The leader, your partner… and you want me to interfere with him? I'm not doing it without a reason. Once we start turning against each other, they win. You know that as well as I do."_

_ "Don't preach to me sister, I know very well what this means." He was very serious about the situation which was not a side she saw from him often outside of his music. He shoved his hand into his light colored pants._

_ "Why? Why should I kill him? Why shouldn't I kill you, while we're at it?"_

_ "Because I haven't turned against anyone."_

_ "And he has?"_

_ "We've got reliable sources telling us that he's corrupting his Killjoys and making deals with the dracs. He's ratting out those who don't agree with him and getting our peopled killed. I can't have that. There are reports he's selling orphans to the Dracs to experiment on and it disgusts me. I've thought long and hard about this and this is the only thing to do. I hope and pray that if I ever did such a filthy disgusting thing and made a deal with those fucking dicks out there in the desert that someone would put me out of my goddamn misery because I wouldn't deserve to live."_

She made it through the fourth zone in another hour. She didn't have to walk the whole thing thankfully. She found the obvious signs of the Killjoy perimeter in the area and knelt down in the sand. She opened the briefcase that she had found out in the seventh zone and couldn't help but feel a smile just spread over her face.

The gun in the case was in pieces but was so beautifully crafted she couldn't help but be giddy at the idea of using it. She pulled apart the handle and began to twist together the various intricacies, exclaiming in excitement every time she found some new exciting feature on the gun. It was a shame it was designed to ditch after this.

She found a switchblade beneath it all with a note attached to it saying that it was complementary with the purchase of the long range sniper laser. She pocketed the blade to keep for herself and then ditched the suitcase after closing it, burying it in the sand. Leaving behind evidence wasn't that hard to do these days since no one would ever be looking for someone who murdered a Killjoy. They were practically like rats to the police force in Battery City.

She quietly approached one of the guards around the perimeter of the known Killjoy territory and jumped on them, knocking them to the ground, grabbing their nose and covering their mouth. She'd stifle their breathing until they passed out and then leave them there in the sand. By the time they woke up she'd be long gone.

"Shit." A second guard saw her and she dodged the laser fire as it shot overhead. She looked behind her to see where it went into the distance and hurried forward, deciding to just bum rush the guard in hopes he'd be taken off guard and wouldn't shoot at her again. She knocked him onto the ground and pulled the laser pistol from his hand. She tossed it as far as she could and just sat on top of the guard, struggling to keep from being pushed over. After a few moments of trying she managed to get his arms and legs pinned down with her body just long enough so she could plug his nose and mouth and knock him out like his friend.

The alarm would be sounded by now, which wasn't part of her plan but she'd manage to work around it. With any luck it wouldn't take very long for her to be able to accomplish her mission and get the hell out of there regardless of the alarm. She got to her feet and caught her breath. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a bandana and tied it around her face to stifle the heavy breathing caused by the adrenaline of the attack. She dusted herself off and turned her gaze to the desert. She couldn't see anyone heading toward her. For some reason she hadn't expected this to be so easy. Maybe what Party Poison had told her had been true.

_"What do you want me to do?" She had been pacing for a good twenty minutes, just thinking about how she would approach this job. It was unsettling to think she would have to kill one of their own. "You don't think he's prepared for such a thing? If someone found out he's turned sides then certainly he's upped security protocols."_

_ "I know." Poison wasn't even looking at her now because he was too busy playing with that damn lighter again, like it would suddenly pop open and reveal some secret to him. It was frustrating to watch him play with it, she just wanted to pull it away from him and yell at him to give her some answers. "I thought about this, don't you think I thought about this? Of course his security will be tight. Even if he weren't… turned he would have tight security. Getting into our place is like getting into a fucking bank vault isn't it? Why would it be any different for Tiger?"_

_ "Okay, so what do you suggest I do? Just walk in there with a big gun and take him the fuck out?"_

_ "No. I suggest you sneak in there. I happen to know you're good at sneaking. You scope him out, take him from far away, ditch the gun then report back here." He finally stuck the lighter in his pocket and stopped playing with it. "You don't want to do it?"_

_ "I'll do it." Disco stepped in front of him and let out a hesitant sigh. "It's just hard to believe that I have to take out one of our own. Once we start fighting amongst ourselves it seems like we've lost our cause altogether."_

_ "So you said before. Trust me, I don't like it anymore than you do. Regardless something needs to be done. We can't sit idly by and let this happen. I got Jet-Star to contact an arms dealer he's used before. Here, take this." He got up from where he was sitting and pulled a slip of paper from his back pocket. "Go to these coordinates and you'll find a suitcase with your weapon for this mission."_

_ "This is in the last zone. You can't be seriously sending me there."_

_ "I know it's dangerous but if I didn't trust you to get it done then I wouldn't offer it to you at all." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before pulling away. "Anything else?"_

_ "No." She felt determined to make a difference here now that she had thought it through. Party Poison was right, if this man leading the other branch of Killjoys had turned then he needed to be taken care of. Every organization had its traitors and they had to set an example. This wouldn't be tolerated. "I'll see you when it's done."_

"Have you told Tiger Beatdown yet?" She stopped short and ducked low in the hot sand as she overheard voices. Lifting binoculars to her eyes she peered around in search of the source. It was lucky she had heard them before she'd walked another five feet and had been seen. Two armed guards were talking and they looked worried. She found that worried guards were the hardest to deal with. People who were scared were often too trigger happy and would wind up killing before analyzing the situation.

"No, he's on the edge of the zone. By the time I get there to warn him the intruder could have gone past my post. I sent a runner."

"Good idea. What's he doing out so far at the edge of the zone anyway? There's a storm coming he should be taking cover."

"I was told it was none of my goddamn business. You know Agent Alpaca, he's defensive about everything involving Tiger."

That was all that Disco Bitch needed to hear in order to go past her target. They seemed to be concerned with her getting past them but not concerned enough to leave their posts and search for her. All she had to do was stay low to the ground and they wouldn't see her. The wind was picking up around them and a thick haze of sand and dust was hovering over the ground, offering her a good enough cover to remain undetected as long as she remained silent.

She had to keep wiping the goggles on her face to keep her vision steady and she found it odd that she didn't meet as much resistance as she had expected to. She kept along the outskirts of the zone, sure that soon enough she would run into Tiger Beatdown and with any luck he'd be alone and vulnerable. She doubted it'd be that easy, but a girl could dream.

She could hear the sounds of children laughing, playing. She froze and ducked low to the ground and looked through the scope of her gun to see if she could find the source. Children shouldn't be out in this dust storm. She could tell by the clouds in the sky approaching from the outer zones that they were in for more than just this nasty dust storm, much worse more than likely. Through her scope she could see the children running around, playing with a few small old toys that looked like they'd been through the ringer. Regardless of what shape they were in, the kids looked happier than most kids did these days.

Tiger Beatdown was there with them, sitting on an old crate. He was handing out cans of food to the children after he had opened them with a utility knife. Disco wiped the lens of the scope for a second just to make sure she hadn't seen an illusion from the dust. He was indeed feeding the orphans and it looked like it was with some of the Killjoy stock they had sent from the last raid too. This couldn't be right. Why would a man who had planned to turn these kids over to be experimented on sacrifice his personal store of food for them? Something wasn't adding up. She pointed the scope at him. She had a clear shot, right at his head. She could squeeze off the trigger and get out of here before anyone would even notice that she had been so close to him. Something stopped her though. This wasn't right. He was feeding orphans and even if he were going to turn them over it felt like bad karma to do something so vile in front of those kids. They looked so happy. He was smiling and playing with them, telling them stories. It didn't seem like the actions of someone who was going to turn them over likely to meet their deaths.

Some of the older kids were setting up some kind of housing as well, probably in preparation for the storm which means that Tiger must have told them about it. It was hard to predict the weather out here and even people who had lived through the storms and the bad weather had no idea what kind of storm would approach. The clouds were deceiving, only someone who really studied them would be able to tell. That meant that Tiger must have had an expert tell him, only to have shared this information with these kids.

To make matters worse, the kids were wearing patches that were given out to the Killjoys to identify them. They must have been saved by this group, not brought here to ship off.

She put down the gun and thought about the situation at hand. What if she didn't kill him? What if Party Poison's information was wrong? He wouldn't tell her who gave him the information so she couldn't honestly say it was reliable at all. Maybe he had been misled.

On the other hand, she trusted their leader in the east. He had never steered them wrong before and had stuck his neck out for all of them at one time or another. He'd even saved her life a year prior to this and at great risk to him and his brother. Maybe Poison was being deceived by someone but then she had to think how someone would fool him. He barely trusted anyone. She was one of the few in the know for the private information amongst that small tight knit group.

He had to be wrong. She had a gut feeling that someone was lying to Party Poison and she couldn't let this seemingly kind man feeding orphans suffer for it without knowing for sure that he was responsible for the charges against him. She'd find out more about Tiger Beatdown and his organization and return to Party Poison with her findings.

She got up and turned away, walking through the sand. She would have to sneak out of the zone as quietly as she had snuck in which should be easy enough. She was distracted though trying to figure out the situation at hand. Surely she had to be missing something important.

The blow to her head came as a complete and total surprise. She stumbled forward, feeling the hit from behind her. She touched the back of her head to feel blood from the blow and pulled out her laser instantly and turned to face her attacker. Before she could get a proper look he hit her with the butt end of his gun and her vision faded into nothing before she even hit the ground. All she caught sight of was a jacket lined with some kind of fur.

He stepped closer to the form that had gone limp on the ground, pointing his laser down at her. He knelt and checked her pulse. She was still breathing but out cold. He could see the blood dripping down over her brow but wasn't too concerned with it. Any attacker deserved to bleed a little bit. He stood back up and pulled the walkie talkie off of his belt.

"I caught the intruder." He looked down at her and nudged her form with his foot, catching the patch on her arm. "She's a Killjoy from the east." The radio crackled back at him in response.

"The east? Why would she sneak in here?"

"No idea, but she's armed with some pretty deadly looking weaponry." There was no response on the other end of the radio so he just knelt down once more and searched her pockets. He found a piece of paper with some coordinates in the last zone as well as her laser, a switchblade, and the rifle she had in her hand. He had never seen a rifle like that before, he knew it had to be a special custom made one, likely outsourced from an arm's dealer.

"Sir, what are we going to do with her?" He pushed her over so she was lying on her stomach and pulled a pair of old handcuffs from his belt. He didn't like the silence on the other end of the radio. He secured her wrists and then turned her so she was on her back. He didn't want her to suffocate to death on the sand before they could find out why she was there at all.

The radio came to life after a few moments of unsettling silence. "Cuff her and bring her to interrogation. There has to be a mistake. Killjoys don't kill each other. They also don't break onto each other's turf. If she wanted something from us, she could've just walked in and asked." Agent Alpaca didn't want to argue over the radio with his leader but he had a feeling this woman was here to assassinate him. That was one of his friend's flaws; he trusted just about everyone until it bit him in the ass. That's why he refused to let him go around alone. If it weren't for him, Tiger would be dead numerous times over.

He reached down and picked up the woman. He would carry her through the desert and back to the center of the zone where he would bring her down into the underground bunker where they would usually only interrogate the Dracs that they captured in hopes of finding where they kept the orphans they stole from the streets of Battery City in the night. That's where they would get to the bottom of this woman's identity.

Her head was pounding and aching. She could feel the swelling on her forehead from where she had been hit. Groaning in discomfort she opened her eyes and could barely see through the left one due to the swelling from the wound. It burned from the blood that had leaked into it while she had been unconscious. She saw a beat up metallic table in front of her and sitting on the other end were two men, both who were looking at her with solemn expressions. The one she recognized from the fur on his coat as the man who had taken her down the other she had never seen before. She made an attempt to stand up and found her feet were tied to the chair she sat in and her hands were cuffed behind her, the chain looped through the decorative back of the chair. She thrashed for a moment in an attempt to get out of her bonds but found it useless and quickly gave up to save her energy.

Her head was swimming and the more she shook around the worse her vision became. She stared at the table in front of her once more. She'd been in this situation before she just never thought the people on the other side of the table would be Killjoys.

"You came here to murder the leader of the west faction of Killjoys, did you not?" Agent Alpaca asked her calmly but his face was stern and agitated. She could tell that he was ready to execute her but something was preventing him from doing what he wished. She lifted her gaze from the men at the table interrogating her and saw that Tiger Beatdown was leaning against the wall behind them, watching the interrogation take place. He wasn't looking at her but more watching his men's actions. She guessed he was the reason that they weren't beating the crap out of her.

"Hey, look at me." She brought her attention back to Agent Alpaca as he slammed his fists down on the table in front of her. "Did you or did you not come to kill Tiger Beatdown?"

She just stared at him blankly. She wasn't going to give anyone the satisfaction of knowing what she was doing here. She may not have agreed that he needed to be killed but she was loyal to the east and she wouldn't be telling any of these men anything they desired to know.

"How'd you get such a sophisticated weapon?" Agent Alpaca lifted the gun from where it was leaning against his seat and placed it in front of her on the table. He'd flipped the safety on in case she found some way to manage to grab it. He wasn't taking any chances. She had knocked out multiple guards and he didn't know what she was capable of.

"She's not answering." The man seated next to him didn't pull his gaze away from her either. She merely cocked her head to the side and looked at them curiously. She was waiting for them to just execute her or punish her already. There was no way she was going to let them know that Party Poison had sent her.

"She will answer when we start cutting off her damn fingers." Agent Alpaca stood and approached the other side of the table so that he could bring life to his threat.

"Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" Agent Alpaca froze as Tiger Beatdown interrupted. He didn't move from his spot at the back of the room, but did raise his head to look at her. She looked like she might be having a hard time dealing with the wound on her face. He didn't think this approach was going to get them anywhere. She could even be suffering from a concussion. It was possible she wasn't capable of giving them any answers at all.

"Sir, she's not going to answer you. There's no point trying to reason with her." Agent Alpaca turned back to look at Tiger.

"Quiet Alpaca. Miss, why didn't you kill me when you had the chance? You must have had the opportunity. I let my guard down, I wasn't even wearing my helmet and we could barely see ten feet out with all the dust in the air. I should've been more cautious." Disco Bitch watched him warily. There was no harm in answering this question, since it had been the one that had been plaguing her since she had put down the gun in the first place out in the desert.

"I was told that you had committed crimes against the Killjoys that made you worthy of my gun. You have been shipping orphans off to the Dracs. Or at least that's what I was told you were doing." She answered, void of emotion, she didn't want anyone to know how this was plaguing her. She had already said more than she had vowed she would. "I had my shot but you were feeding children. You were feeding them with the food we'd collected from the raids earlier in the week… why would you be sharing your personal store if you were just going to ship these kids off? You were helping them build a shelter to hide from the storm too. I decided as I held the gun on you that the men who passed judgment on you in the first place had to have been mistaken."

The room was silent for a few moments as they contemplated what she had said. Agent Alpaca hadn't expected her to respond at all, but he didn't buy her story. Tiger just stared at her from across the room. He looked over at his men and spoke. "Alpaca, Lucky? You're free to go. Go make sure the doors are locked before the acid storm starts. I can take it from here."

"Tiger, I strongly advise against this, this woman has tried to kill you! She left five men unconscious on her way here…"

"I know what I'm doing. You're dismissed." Tiger Beatdown walked over to the table and sat down where Alpaca had once been sitting. He waited until he heard the sound of the door closing behind them. There was something about this woman who sat across from him that intrigued him. It wasn't her pretty blue eyes that were drawing him in, it was something more. He didn't think she would attack him. She seemed as confused about the situation as he was and he'd get to the bottom of it, even if it meant sparing her.


	3. KaBoom

His hands were ice cold despite the gloves he wore. His hazel eyes had adjusted to the dim light after an hour or so of work. Around him were boxes stacked to the ceiling on top of wooden crates all with the same black smiling logo on them. He'd started to deface the logo with a big red X as he had gotten further into his prying. He hated that damn fake smile and the longer he spent there the more it looked like it was staring at him. He had the lid of a large crate open, one of the few that wasn't buried underneath white cardboard boxes in this area. If he had time he'd go up and he'd spray paint every single one of those smiling bastards until they were all dripping red.

Reaching up to his shoulder, he adjusted the small book light he'd duct taped to his arm earlier and pointed it, once again, down at the crate filled with pills so he could get a better look at the metallic mess of wires he'd put into the box. The wiring in the book light kept bending back into its intended shape so he had to keep readjusting it. In hindsight, it hadn't been the smartest idea he'd ever had. If he didn't connect all the wires in just the right way they wouldn't work at all- either that or they'd blow up in his face as he touched them. He hummed despite the fact that he didn't want to be found, looking rather casual about the situation at hand even though he knew its importance. The pills in the crate he was working in were painkillers; not the low grade kind either, but the stuff that someone with an addiction would pay incredibly good money for. This was the kind of medicine they were giving to people for medical procedures these days. They wouldn't just take away the pain of physical suffering, but they'd numb the mind as well. On top of that, they were highly addictive and nearly impossible to separate yourself from once you'd started taking them. The physical side effects were torturous to those who tried to get off of them.

A creak of a metallic door, a sliver of light from somewhere beyond and he knew he was no longer alone. He stopped humming and very calmly finished up his work with the wires with quick and experienced hands. He grabbed a couple of the bottles of pills and shoved them in the pocket of his blue jacket and simultaneously pulled out his yellow laser gun with the other hand. He turned and pointed it at the door just in time to see the silhouette of a man approaching him. He kept his aim and just listened. He knew whoever it was could see him but they hadn't drawn a weapon yet so he was unsure if it were a friend or foe. He recognized the gait of the man stepping forward but still refused to lower his pistol, just in case.

"It's me." The shadow spoke and stepped into view. The red jacket, slim figure and nearly bleach blond hair was instantly recognizable but this didn't seem to stop him from having a laser pointed at him. "Party Poison, it's me Kobra Kid." He furrowed his brow at his older brother and stepped forward again so that his face could be seen.

Party Poison didn't respond and just put his laser pistol back into the holster on his hip. He slipped his fingers back through his dirty, bright red hair, revealing only for a second the shaved sides before it would fall down back in his face. This was a sort of tic he'd developed over the years. He didn't acknowledge his younger brother but merely turned back to his work in the crate on the electronic device. He hadn't exactly been careful once he heard the sounds of someone sneaking into the warehouse. It seemed risky to be followed this far anyway and he wondered why Kobra would make the effort to follow him in here. He knew it had to be important. He made a noise of disapproval and shook his head just slightly, unhooking a few of the wires on the machine. He bent low over the crate to be closer to the crude electronic device in front of him. He fixed the wires and closed the crate.

"Hey, I know you're busy but there's something sorta…" Kobra Kid stopped mid-sentence and cocked his head to the side curiously, noticing the bulge in his brother's pocket and seeing the familiar white caps of the pill bottles sticking out just enough to be recognizable. "What's with the Innoculess?" He looked like he disapproved of the pills in Party Poison's pocket. "I thought you were off of those things."

Party Poison turned and looked at his brother again skeptically and then moved to a crate around the corner in the maze of boxes where he had placed a second strange and crude looking device. He didn't seem to think that statement warranted a response. It was true he had once been victim to the pills when he had decided to experiment a few years back with just about anything he could get his hands on. He'd gone through hell while he was on them and it had taken him until just a year ago to finally get off of them completely. He barely remembered a lot of the things he had done during that time and he wasn't stupid enough to start using them again but he wasn't above making a profit off of people who would.

"They're to sell then? Is that it?"

"Is there an actual reason you followed me here?" Poison interrupted, not turning away from the wiring in front of him. This was the last crate he had to take care of. He'd spent the last several hours putting together eight of these machines that he'd brought in a backpack which he'd discarded four crates ago. He figured the backpack didn't hold any evidence of his identity and would burn up in the blast anyway. If all went according to plan they'd go off at the same time and the whole storeroom would be blown to fucking kingdom come. Kobra Kid followed him and watched everything he did as he walked. It wasn't like his brother to stay this focused for long.

"Is that a book light?" He cocked his head to the side with a confused look, seeing the light on Poison's arm.

"Yes, with duct tape to keep it steady."

"…is that _my_ book light?"

"Does that really matter right now?"

"Poison, that's my book light isn't it?" Kobra reached out to try and pull it off of his arm and Poison turned around to face him. He held a finger up on his left hand and took a step back from his brother, his eyebrows high on his forehead. He gave his brother a look that suggested it was a bad idea to touch the light taped to his arm. They stood and stared at each other for a few seconds before Party Poison spoke again.

"What do you want Kobra?"

"I heard from Death-iNation today. I met with him on the outskirts of Battery City."

"Alone? You're wanted there for a bounty. You should've sent someone else." Party Poison turned his back to his brother again and went back to hooking up the wires on the small device.

"I didn't want to risk anyone else."

"What did he say?"

"He told me that Tiger Beatdown's turned." This finally caught Party Poison's interest. He stopped messing with the device and grabbed onto the end of the crate, realizing the weight of this statement. Party Poison was the leader of the eastern faction of Killjoys while Tiger Beatdown had control over the western faction. They had been allies for a very long time and if what his brother was saying was true, they had to prepare for the worst. He knew his brother wouldn't lie and he trusted Death-iNation with his life so the news had to be true. Kobra Kid didn't bother saying more since his brother's reaction was enough to show that he got the message loud and clear.

"What's the damage?"

"Human trafficking, contaminated water in the fourth zone and a shit ton of filthy lies."

Party Poison stared into nothing for a long while and then back down at the machine in front of him. He finished it up, taking about ten more minutes to set the wires; when he set his mind to it, he could finish work like this easily. Kobra Kid shifted uncomfortably as he watched his brother, occasionally peaking over his shoulder to look at the explosive he recognized as something they'd designed just the week before. He wasn't sure how they worked but Poison seemed to have gotten the hang of it. He was nervous, his brother usually responded to him about things that were important like this. The silence was nerve racking anyway considering they were in a place they were not supposed to be and could likely be caught by making as much noise as they had.

"What do you think we should do? We can't leave this alone." Party Poison closed the crate and turned to look back at his brother. He tore the book light from the duct tape around his arm and handed it to Kobra.

"I did steal your book light. Sue me." He looked over at him for a moment, gave him a half of a smirk before letting it fade and looking around at his handiwork.

"Poison…" Kobra hesitated as he took the book light.

"I'll take care of it. Right now…" Poison dusted his hands off and shook the adrenaline rush he got as he flipped the switch in his left hand. "We have about two minutes to get out of here. Well… a few seconds less than that now."

"Okay." Kobra nodded his head. He trusted his brother to do what needed to be done. Party Poison took off at a run, through the maze of boxes and through the door that he'd entered hours earlier. They needed to get as far away as they could before the timer went off. He knew it was a risk setting it so short, it had been why he'd done it in the first place. The brothers ran through the next room, double checked the side entrance to make sure that there were no guards waiting for them outside or in the general vicinity and ran for it to the chain link fence Poison had disarmed earlier in the night on his way in. They climbed over and Kobra flew off of it, landing onto his back in the dirt as the devices Party Poison had set earlier went off exactly when they were meant to. The force of the blow had been enough to knock them both off but Party Poison had taken a hold onto the fence, lacing his fingers with the links and managed to brace himself so he wouldn't go flying.

Kobra took the hand his brother offered him and got onto his feet, dusting off his knees. Poison shoved his hands into the pockets of his khaki colored pants and watched the fire engulf the building. The sirens didn't even go off, which meant that almost everything had been destroyed. The two watched the fiery display, not seeing a single guard emerging from the inferno to come after that. Party Poison felt a sick sort of satisfaction in the fact that he'd done such an efficient job.

"I need some air… and some time to think." Party Poison said as he watched the fire, mesmerized by the beautiful colors that the medicine created when it burned. He turned his back on his brother and walked away from the blaze. He needed something drastically different than air but he knew if he told his brother he was going to an underground party in the second zone he wouldn't be allowed to go alone. He was known to get into trouble at such things. The last time he'd gone out, he'd nearly gotten a girl killed and lost his favorite ray gun. He supposed that wasn't so catastrophic but he'd risked a lot to just get his fix. Not to mention he had been incredibly fond of that ray gun.

He walked the streets, pulling his coat collar up so that it kept the warm breeze from assaulting his face. He needed a shave, which was something he rarely got to say since it took him so long to get any scruff at all. He pulled a flyer from his pocket that he had collected earlier in the night before he'd headed to the storeroom. The party would likely be broken up around two in the morning and the exterminators would come and round up anyone suspicious and stupid enough to be there that late. Anyone who knew anything about being outside of the law of Better Living Industries knew when to leave before the situation would get too messy. He'd be long gone by two anyway. All he needed was a quickie and to sell the product he'd stolen.

He walked into the old house that was set up for the party. The windows were black giving the illusion that the place was abandoned but the moment he opened the front door he could hear the barrage of loud music. There were a lot of buildings set up like this around the various zones just for this purpose. Underground hustlers and troublemakers had gone through a lot of trouble to keep these parties alive. He walked past the bouncer, they all knew him these days. He handed the man a few bucks and slapped him on the shoulder without even looking up at him, knowing he'd get in. They were all the same to him, people without faces. He made a point not to look at people's faces- these days the masks were far more important.

Party Poison bypassed the crowd dancing in the dark room and glanced over at the makeshift bar at the other end of it. The music was shaking the floor and lights were flashing on and off to suit the mood. If he had some glow sticks or body paint, this would be an excellent rave. He glanced down at his coat pocket and made sure he still had the bottles of pills. It was funny that he had gone from being an addict to a peddler. Not to mention he'd literally just traded his addiction to the drugs to having sex. Sex was far easier to maintain than drugs with nasty side effects were. He shrugged it off and looked for his target. Poison leaned against the wall near the door and watched the people pass by. There were a lot of pretty girls there that night but he was looking for a challenge.

He had too much on his mind and he did his best work when he was thinking about something completely different than the situation at hand. Three girls were dancing together in the crowd, but to get them apart would be a nightmare. He needed a girl that was alone for the night so he wouldn't have to work on her friends. There was a girl falling over herself in the corner, drooling over every guy who passed. That would be too easy and it was likely she would give him something he didn't want anyway.

A smirk grew on his face as he found his girl for the night. It was amazing how one glance at a woman and he'd know which one was next. She was sitting at the bar and she was hunched over, looking like she had a lot on her mind. She'd probably initially reject him, but he was too good at this game to give up that easily. She looked like she was tough, hardened by the world and it was likely most of the men at this party were too intimidated to even approach her. He contemplated whether or not he should sell the pills first or if he should go after her first. She looked like a permanent fixture at the bar, so time didn't seem like a factor. He decided that his primal needs trumped someone else's addiction and stepped away from the wall. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and walked through the crowd up to the bar.

"Refill the lady's drink." He sat down next to the woman and looked her over, speaking to the bartender with a sly smile. He'd hit the jackpot, he'd realized as he looked her over, she was pretty cute. She had blue eyes and black hair with red stripes that were fading. She looked like she was on fire in the black and orange outfit she wore and she was tapping her fingers against the counter to the music. He could see her roll her eyes as he offered her the drink but this didn't turn him off. He had faced tough women before and he'd always known when to throw in the towel. This wasn't over yet. It had barely started.

She glanced over at him after the bartender had refilled her drink and knew in just once glance what kind of a man he was. She saw the adrenaline filled look in his eyes, they were even tinged with green when she could tell they were usually hazel. The smell of gasoline from the cars she'd blown up earlier in the night was still on her hands. She could find traces of it every time she inhaled, but luckily the alcohol she had been ingesting was much stronger than the smell of gasoline and this man wouldn't notice. He wouldn't be around very long anyway. She noticed he didn't buy a drink for himself and knew what he was up to. Anyone else who'd ingested as much as she had would've fallen for his guise but she was far too paranoid to be like everyone else.

"Thanks." She said and turned back to her drink, taking a sip from it, not inviting him to continue any conversation. She found that the less she said to men like him, the less eager they were to try and struggle to converse.

"Oh you're welcome. I never pass up the opportunity to spoil a pretty girl." He leaned his elbow on the counter of the bar, declining the bartender's offer for a drink for himself. He didn't even consume alcohol anymore since he found it was easier to manipulate people without it in his system. Manipulation was far more satisfying than any drug or drink. The woman looked at him skeptically for just a moment and shook her head in dismay but turned back to her drink to avoid looking at him. This still wasn't nearly enough to drive him away.

"So how is it possible that not a single guy has offered to get such a pretty girl like you a drink tonight? Excluding me of course." He knew if he didn't get her with a little bit of flattery he'd have to work a different route. Any response would be helpful, even a negative one.

"This is the fifth free drink I've had tonight, actually." She didn't offer anything further on the subject, but he at least had gotten her to talk which was a good sign.

"Oh really? So what happened to all the men who tried to flatter you before me?" His curiosity was both annoying and endearing.

"You'll find out." She had a hint of a smile on her lips, which he noticed were worn and bitten apart. He looked at her curiously. Something about her intrigued him, she was something else: a challenge. He hadn't been challenged by the fairer sex in a long time and was looking forward to every second of this. Rejection was half the fun of the chase.

"I don't think it matters what happened to them."

"Oh yeah? Why is that?" She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"Well, because I didn't come here to get in your pants." He lied right to her face, but knew this approach would work for a little while. "I came to ask your opinion about something."

"Me huh? A stranger at the bar? If I needed an opinion on something worth talking about I doubt I'd trust the woman at the bar on her sixth drink for the night."

"It's funny because a pretty woman on her sixth drink for the night… well, that's just the kind of opinion I need right now…" Party Poison smirked and then continued on, knowing that because she wasn't leaving she would go ahead and listen to what he planned on saying.

"So there's this group I know… and they work together to solve some problems. Some of the things they do are a little underhanded but overall they're a group of good guys… and girls. Now… the two guys who are in charge of this were really close in the beginning but they haven't talked in a few years." Poison stared down at the counter, thinking about how this was all true. When the Killjoys got started, he was too young to know much about them, but when he'd become the leader he'd split them in two sides and appointed his friend as the leader of the west faction. Now that things were so screwed up because of that split, he wasn't sure what to do.

"So, a reliable source… more reliable than any other… of my friend's… he finds out that this guy that was running things with him… well he's gone turncoat and done some things that put shame to the rest of the group. He's done some things that he swore he stood against. Now, see, my friend has to make a decision on what to do with him. Does he trust the man that he used to know so well? Or does he trust his source and take action? That could jeopardize the integrity of the entire cause." He looked back at the woman next to him. He wasn't sure what made him ask her these questions when he could've just as easily made something up. Apparently what Kobra Kid had said to him earlier in the night was weighing more heavily on him than he had thought it had.

"It sounds like your _friend_…" She clearly knew he wasn't talking about a friend, but rather himself, by the way she said it to him. "It sounds like he needs to take charge. If it were me… and someone were running my business the way I didn't like I'd put them in their place no matter how good a friend they once were. You can't compromise something like that because of friendship. The cause is more important, isn't it?" She had finished her drink while he was talking and still felt the need to have more but didn't order another. Party Poison sat in silence for a moment contemplating her words but then nodded his head to agree, deciding she was right.

"You know, you're as smart as you are pretty." Poison stood from the bar stool and smirked. "Dance with me?" He didn't wait for her to answer. Instead he merely grabbed her gloved hand and pulled her into the sweaty group of people dancing all around them.

He slipped his hands onto her hips, brushing over her shirt, noticing something heavy in a hidden pocket between the strings that held it all together. He often liked to steal things from the women he hooked up with so that he could look back on them and remember the experience. It was a little akin to a serial killer, but he found no harm in it. He wrapped his arms around her waist underneath her short jacket and in the process, stole what felt like a lighter from her hidden pocket, slipping it quickly into his jeans.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She shoved at his chest and gave him a nasty look, practically spitting venom at him. For a fleeting moment he thought that she had felt him steal the lighter. One look at her face and he knew she was talking about how he was holding her. He knew she was playing tough but if she really didn't want it, she would've punched him; she looked more than capable of doing so.

"Well, you gave me your opinion so now I'm right back to trying to… steal your heart." He gave her his best sweet smile. She contemplated him for a moment with a look of disbelief and pushed him off of her.

"I don't sleep with addicts." She started away from him. Party Poison was taken by surprise by that comment and hurried after her. He couldn't figure out what would make her think that of him.

"I am not an addict." He grabbed her by the arm and tugged her back to him.

"The pills in your coat pocket beg to differ." She shoved his hand off of her and walked away from him again. He looked down at his coat pocket and saw that there was very little sign that the pills were hiding in there at all. She had to have noticed them when they were talking at the bar. He was shocked she had said anything about them at all and unsure of how to react. Not a single woman before her had noticed anything like that before. He slipped his hand through his hair, pushing it back and out of his face even though it was inevitable that it'd only fall back down. He couldn't let her get away after that, she was ruining everything. On the other hand, she was making things much more interesting and that excited him.

He followed her and grabbed her arm again. They weren't anywhere near the dancing, sweaty mob of people anymore which made it easier but drew attention to them at the same time. He pulled her back to him closer than before, keeping one hand around her waist, the other around the back of her neck so that he could force her close enough to keep his voice hushed. His heart was pounding in his chest now; nothing like this had ever happened to him in all of his endeavors. People were watching, but they wouldn't be able to tell if it were anything more than a lover's quarrel.

"How did you know I had the pills?" He gave her his best threatening growl. He wanted her to know that he wasn't amused by this, but he didn't mean to sound as mean as he had. Either way she didn't seem very phased by him or intimidated.

"In this world you're observant or you die… besides it's pretty easy to recognize dealers and addicts. They don't hide themselves very well. I knew you were one or the other the moment you sat down."

"And which do you think I am? A dealer? Or an addict?" He moistened his lips as he watched her calm blue eyes. There was a storm brewing behind then he could tell, and he liked it.

"I wasn't sure but now you're acting less like an addict and much more like a dealer." She wasn't crushing under the pressure of his stare, in fact she was rising to the occasion. Poison kept his primal instincts in check. He still had a chance at this girl if he could weave a convincing lie or use this fact to his advantage. Some women liked danger, she seemed like she could be into that.

"…does that scare you?" A smile curled on the edge of his lips once more, the one side a little higher than the other.

"No." To his surprise he could see the hint of a smile on her lips as well. Maybe the tension they were building up together wasn't unique to him. "You're far too pretty to scare anyone." She leaned just a little bit closer to his lips, and he knew she was taunting him now.

"Maybe you should be scared of me." He wasn't going to be the one to back down, he never was. Some people called him stubborn, he preferred the term dedicated. She laughed at him and shook her head, letting her tongue brush over the corner of her mouth for a moment nervously and then started to push him away from her.

He grabbed her wrists and pulled her back close to him. He didn't have anything to say to her, no arguments that would convince her to stay with him but it appeared he didn't need them. He let go of her wrists as he felt her slack and she didn't pull away, in fact, he could feel her hands on his stomach and he instinctively sucked in.

He let his eyes drift closed as his lips barely touched hers and pulled back instantly as he heard his name being called. If he had only had a few seconds more, he could've tasted the lips he'd been watching since he walked up to the bar.

"Party Poison." It was Kobra Kid and he needed his attention. Poison cursed under his breath and pulled back, pushing his hair back again and swallowing the lump that had developed in his throat from the tension and nerves they'd managed to build up.

"Fuck Kobra, what the hell do you want? I'm kinda fucking busy! Can't you see that?"

"It's important." Kobra wasn't thrown off by his brother's attitude. He knew very well what he did at these parties and had known how he'd react when he had interrupted, especially when he had that pretty girl in his arms. Poison stared at him for a moment and then sighed heavily, clearly giving into the greater responsibility at hand. He turned to look at the woman who seemed distracted now by something else in the room.

"Don't go anywhere. I'll only be gone for a minute." He managed a smirk and then winked at her and walked off with his brother into the hallway. They kept walking until they were outside the back door where no one else could hear them.

"Jet-Star's team was attacked by Killjoys on the border of zone three. They had patches from the west faction. Something needs to be done about Tiger Beatdown immediately. This can't wait for you to fool around in there with that girl." Kobra looked urgent and nervous about the entire situation.

"Fine, I know what we have to do. Just… let me finish one more thing before we go deal with this." He didn't give his brother a chance to respond and headed into the party again. Kobra followed along, wanting to make sure he didn't give into his darker urges.

Party Poison looked around for the woman he'd left there alone only a moment earlier and found a note written on a napkin taped to the wall next to where they had been so close to kissing. His stomach dropped and he checked his pockets frantically, realizing she'd tried to kiss him for a reason. The pills he had were gone, the whole thing was a trick.

"I'm so fucking stupid." He leaned his head back, realizing now that when she had put her hands on his body to kiss him she had reached into his pockets and taken the pills. That was why she had noticed them, why she knew he was either a dealer or an addict. Who better to spot an addict than an addict? He should've known from the way she'd been tapping the bar and putting away those drinks.

He pulled the napkin note off of the wall and looked down at the scribbled writing.

"_Thanks for the drink – Frenz"_ She had kissed the napkin and left a lipstick stain there and what looked like a little bit of blood from how he had noticed her lips were torn and chapped. That alone should've let him know she was an addict. He had been too determined to get laid to notice it.

He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the lighter he'd taken from her earlier in the night. It was decorated and looked incredibly old. He flipped it open and flicked it, watching the orange flame. He noticed the same small flame mark on all the sides of the lighter, it had to mean something. Of course she would've taken off the moment she got the chance. She had played him, better than he had played her.

"Interesting…" He muttered to himself and then was brought back to reality as Kobra Kid spoke again.

"What should we do?" Kobra didn't understand why his brother was so bewitched by a woman who'd clearly not been interested in him. Party Poison turned around to face his brother and shoved the lighter back into his jean pocket, looking determined.

"Bring me Disco."


	4. InterrogateDeceit

A thick wall of sand was blowing in the wind. He could barely see in front of him more than a few feet, but he still knew where he was going, so it didn't matter. He had walked this path so many times before that he was sure that if he knelt down on the ground and looked hard enough in the sand he'd see his footprints from earlier in the week when he had headed out into the zone with his comrades or from the week before when he'd returned with supplies. He hung his head low so the sand wouldn't fly into his eyes and pulled the tiger striped helmet off of his head, tossing it down in the sand, where the noise it made was muted by the wind. It was expendable to him, and considering what he'd lost this morning, he didn't much care if he lost material things. He began to remove the buckles that secured the gas mask around his face. The tips of his fingers were scraped and bloodied from the fight he'd put up, making it hard to get a grasp on them but he continued nonetheless, until they were all unhooked. He pulled the gas mask off of his face, not caring that it was caught in his longer hair and tugged at it as he tossed it to the side just like he'd done with his helmet only a moment prior.

He stopped his trudge home just before the barrier to the west Killjoy camp, the one that he'd devoted the last ten years of his life to putting together and guarding, and stared. The barrier wasn't an actual barrier like the one in the east had. It was more of an unspoken barrier and all those who had been there new where it was. There were guards positioned around its entirety but they did their best to stay hidden in the sands of the desert so that if any intruders would come alone they'd be spotted. He turned for a moment to face away from the blowing sand and dug into the pocket of his leather jacket. He squinted through the sand, down at the blood stained dog tags he'd pulled out of his pocket. The four men he'd gone out with earlier in the week to try and track a supply truck heading to the Dracs headquarters in the seventh zone hadn't made it back with him.

They'd been set up. The information he'd received from a usually reliable contact in Battery City had been wrong in every sense of the word. When they'd reached the sixth zone and split into their attack formation to jump the vehicle carrying supplies, they hadn't found anything. He had them hold their positions for hours and when nothing came he knew the information had to be faulty. He hadn't thought much of it other than perhaps the coordinates were wrong until it had been too late. He wrapped his fingers around the blood spattered dog tags and took a deep breath, continuing his march past the perimeter. Dog tags had once been used by the old military to identify soldiers. After the old United States had fallen apart and started to degrade, Better Living Industries had taken over to "protect" its citizens in the manner they saw fit. They had done away with the dog tag system immediately and had opted for computer chips inserted in the skin that could be picked up by scanners all around the city. He had suggested years ago that they implement the old military standard of dog tags for the Killjoys to keep track of their members and everyone agreed that it was a good idea. That had been back before the Killjoys had been split into two factions and he had been appointed a leader of one of them.

It was standard procedure to take the dog tag off of a body after a Killjoy had lost their life, no matter what the reason. They'd bring it back and put it up on a wall and hold a memorial for their fallen comrades. Today four Killjoys had been lost. Early in the morning they'd been jumped by a group of Dracs and easily outnumbered. It has been a set up. The Dracs knew that they would be there in small numbers and had come prepared. They had still underestimated their abilities though and in the end, the only one left standing was him. Tiger Beatdown kept walking as one of the guards from the perimeter came into view and walked past him to retrieve his gas mask and his helmet. He had been known to carelessly discard items to never be seen again so his men were always retrieving them and returning them to him at random moments as a favor. He had far more on his mind though right now than a few personal items that could be lost because of his carelessness. On his way back into camp he had seen dark clouds forming to the west and they looked like they'd bring an acid storm soon enough. He hoped they'd get lucky and the storm would turn away and head south.

Acid storms were much like regular thunderstorms, with the exception that the rain would eat away the flesh if someone were left uncovered in it. It was easy enough to take precautions to remain safe but not everyone knew exactly how to keep out of it. Metal and stone seemed impervious to the acid so all they really had to do was remain indoors or take cover to avoid injury. He walked through the sand, seeing his old friend walking toward him from the camp as he did. He soon joined his stride and they walked in silence for a few mere seconds before Agent Alpaca broke the tense air around them.

"I'm taking it, by that look, that things didn't go very well, did they?" He could tell that his friend had a lot on his mind by his silence in response to the carefully phrased question. His jacket was covered in scuff marks and dirt and his hair was a nappy mess. Tiger stopped walking and turned to his friend. He grabbed his hand and placed the blood stained dog tags in them and forced his fingers closed over them and started to continue on his walk. He needed air, and no matter how far he got from the seventh zone he still felt suffocated by poison. He knew the poison he tasted on his lips was a far different one than what contaminated the air in the outer zones.

"Well, damn." Alpaca looked down at the oval metallic name plates in his hand with an upset look on his face and then put them in his pocket, so he wouldn't drop them or forget about them. They'd hold a memorial for them later in the night once he'd found out what had happened. "This isn't right. These men had no idea they were going to die." He followed Tiger Beatdown through the sand, past the buildings that mostly led to underground bunkers the Killjoys called their home. Most of the western Killjoy camp was underground. Acid storms had been more frequent which had led to them taking to their cellars for more of their business. An intricate tunnel system had been developed over the last couple of years and though it was still in the process of being built, mostly due to lack of supplies, they had moved all of their operations there over the last six months since the storms had become increasingly frequent. Alpaca hung his head low out of respect for the fallen Killjoys as he walked with his friends past the seemingly deserted buildings. There were rarely Killjoys seen above ground in this area, most of them operated either underground or outside of the fourth zone in the west. He knew the east was quite different, that all of their buildings were above ground which was a lot riskier and less efficient in his opinion.

"There are clouds coming in off the ocean. They look like they're heading this way." Tiger broke the silence as they walked slowly. "It'll be here by tomorrow night most likely. Or it could go the opposite way I suppose. I'm not a meteorologist. Big storm though… you should spread the word and let everyone know to dress heavy if they're going to stay out."

"I'll spread the word when I go to place the dog tags up on the Fallen Wall." Alpaca sounded apprehensive in regards to what they were talking about but Tiger didn't ask what his concerns were. He knew that if his second in command had something to tell him that he would in time and he wouldn't hesitate about it either. That was the good and bad thing about Agent Alpaca: He was brutally honest no matter what the situation.

"Tiger, I hate to add onto your pile of bad news here, but we've received reports from our Killjoys around the zones that Party Poison in the east has gone rogue." Tiger Beatdown stopped walking completely as Alpaca gave him this news. He immediately shook his head in objection to what he was hearing. There was no way any of this could be true.

"Party Poison? No way. He's more loyal to our cause than any other person I've met in my life…" Alpaca interrupted him and he knew by the look in his eyes that he didn't trust his judgment on the subject. He was known to trust far too easily.

"There were reports of a mass execution of Killjoys. They were told it was an example and that Party Poison was the one who gave the order. Apparently he didn't even stick around to watch his men die." He continued on as Tiger opened his mouth to continue his objections and to defend a man who had once been a close friend of his. "I know you were friends with him but that was a long time ago now. He's probably changed over the years and you can't even say you know him anymore."

"Not this guy, he wouldn't do that. He wouldn't even kill someone who stabbed him in the back as long as they were part of the cause."

"People change, Tiger and usually not for the better."

"Would you say that about me, Alpaca?" Tiger Beatdown cocked his head to the side and couldn't help but crack a small smile.

"You know very well that you've changed over the years… but I never said change had to be something negative. Sometimes, like in your case, change can be a good thing."

"You implied it was negative though." Tiger walked over to the small worn down building that he usually spent most of his time in. It was his home, but he felt like it was more a temporary place for him to sleep and eat so he hadn't done much personalizing.

"Regardless of that, we need to address what's happening over in the east… Possibly even take action if the situation is as dire as it sounds."

"Don't say anything you'll regret Alpaca, you never know whose listening." Agent Alpaca didn't continue but did look at Tiger expectantly. "Raise the guard around the perimeter… warn people that everyone, including other Killjoys, are to be treated as hostile enemies. Visitors must be escorted and interviewed by either you or me… got it? No exceptions."

"Good plan." Alpaca seemed satisfied with his friend's response to his query and stepped aside. "I have a lot to do now, orders to give. Get cleaned up and I'll come talk to you later." He gave Tiger Beatdown a reassuring pat on the shoulder and headed away. Tiger watched him walk away then sat down on the empty storage crate he kept in front of his front door. He pushed his dirty hair out of his face and just let his head sit in his hand for a moment. He had too much to think about and yet he couldn't concentrate on anything it seemed. He looked up and watched the dark clouds building in the distance. The wind from the storm created an orange colored cloud when combined with the sand near the edge of the zones. Usually the sand storms were tolerable with goggles; it was the rain that was deadly. He couldn't sit around here and just dwell on all the bad things that were happening around him. He had to get up and do something.

Tiger got up and headed inside his home, propping open the door with the crate he had just sat down on only a few moments prior. He descended the stairs to the one underground room he called his. He grabbed his dirty old leather backpack from the edge of his bed and began to pull some of the food he'd been storing for himself out from beneath the floor boards. He filled the backpack with as much of it as he could fit and headed back up the stairs and out the door. He left the crate in the doorway, not caring if anyone entered while he was gone, and began back toward the perimeter of the zone, but this time to the north, rather than the west.

"That storm is coming this way, where the hell are you going?" Tiger didn't stop walking even though he heard Agent Alpaca calling for him.

"The orphans on the edge of the zone at the refugee camp we have set up don't know about the storm. They'll need the extra food too if they have to stay underground for a few days while they wait out the storm."

"You can't go there alone. I just told you what happened in the East! You're a target now. We're all targets!" Alpaca stepped in his way, to block him from leaving.

"The orphans are always targets. No one ever holds their hand when they need to go out." Tiger walked around his friend. This was a distraction for his mind from everything that was so quickly falling apart all around him. If Party Poison had truly turned from the cause then they were all as good as dead. Alpaca started after him, refusing to let him go alone and eventually caught up to him and walked in stride with him.

"I'm going with you then since you won't listen to reason." They continued their walk, mostly in silence since they didn't seem to agree with each other on anything at this moment. Agent Alpaca kept trying to make conversation but the last thing Tiger Beatdown wanted was to talk about what was going on. He knew he had to deal with it sometime, and soon, but for right now he was dead set on ignoring it until he had gone to see the children at the orphanage. He still had the visions of his friends, his comrades, dying out in the desert to save his life. Their blood stained faces and dead eyes were staring at him from behind his eyelids every time he shut his eyes. It'd scar him for a long time and he couldn't focus on all the bad things happening around him right now or he might go mad.

He opened to the gate surrounding an abandoned looking building. The windows were boarded up and covered with graffiti and there were a few old toys lying out in the dirt looking like they had long ago at outlived their play time. Tiger walked inside and left the gate hanging open. Alpaca stood near the open entrance and watched his friend from afar. He knew he didn't want to spend time with him right now and respected that. He knew he'd been through a lot in the last twenty four hours and wasn't going to push him further than necessary.

Tiger tapped three times on the door, eagerly awaiting a response. He smiled as a little blond girl opened the door to peak out at him then ran out the door and gave his legs a tight hug. The kids all recognized him by now. He had helped smuggle half of them out of the city. He leaned down to hug the little girl and received a squeeze back. These kids had been through so much that it was easy to forget that they were just children sometimes, but when he had moments like this with them, he was reminded of how young and innocent they still were.

He spent the next hour or so just talking with the kids about silly things like music and games after he had warned them about the storm that was going to likely head this way He helped them cover up what was necessary around the area and then helped them store the food he'd brought with them in a cool dry place so they would have enough to last them. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Agent Alpaca spoke with a few other guards about something. He didn't really care what they were discussing even though it looked important, right now all that needed to be important to him were these kids and keeping them safe. They were the ultimate distraction for him. He knew that whatever Agent Alpaca was dealing with he would have to take control over soon, but for right now he just kept his thoughts as clear as he could, until he couldn't any longer. It wasn't long before his walkie talkie came to life on his belt and he was dealing with a whole mess of trouble.

"Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" He broke out of his reverie and finally addressed the situation at hand. He'd been lost in thought about the kids he'd spent the day with; about the way he couldn't believe that Party Poison had gone rogue, and now about this woman who had been sent to kill him. If she really had been sent from the east, he would have been dead. Unless of course the rumors about Party Poison were true and he had started just using any means necessary to get his way. He could sense the tension in Agent Alpaca as he interrupted his interrogation. The woman behind the table with the pretty blue eyes looked over at him too, though she just seemed surprised he was speaking. He wondered if perhaps she had forgotten he was there at all.

"Sir, she's not going to answer you. There's no point trying to reason with her." Alpaca turned to look at him, giving him a look that expressed concern.

"Quiet Alpaca. Miss, why didn't you kill me when you had the chance? You must have had the opportunity. I let my guard down, I wasn't even wearing my helmet and we could barely see ten feet out with all the dust in the air. I should've been more cautious." He hoped she would answer him. She was weighing her options in her head; he could read it through her eyes.

"I was told that you had committed crimes against the Killjoys that made you worthy of my gun. You have been shipping orphans off to the Dracs. Or at least that's what I was told you were doing." Alpaca looked shocked that the woman spoke and so much too. Tiger couldn't help but smile, even if it was only for a moment. The woman's voice sounded hollow and devoid of emotion. She was putting up her defenses. "I had my shot but you were feeding children. You were feeding them with the food we'd collected from the raids earlier in the week… why would you be sharing your personal store if you were just going to ship these kids off? You were helping them build a shelter to hide from the storm too. I decided as I held the gun on you that the men who passed judgment on you in the first place had to have been mistaken." She'd responded to him and honestly. He couldn't say why he knew she had answered honestly, but she had. He was astonished by this new revelation. Party Poison had thought he'd committed some kind of crimes against the Killjoys, just like he was thinking about him. Perhaps there was more to this than any of them had realized. His next move would be risky, but it had to be done.

"Alpaca, Lucky? You're free to go. Go make sure the doors are locked before the acid storm starts. I can take it from here."

"Tiger, I strongly advise against this, this woman has tried to kill you! She left five men unconscious on her way here…" Alpaca was red in the face at this point, clearly not believing a word she had told them.

"I know what I'm doing. You're dismissed." Tiger didn't say anything else to Alpaca and the other guard as they walked past him and out of the room. He could hear the door being secured as he sat down in the chair that his friend had once sat in to interrogate her. He stared into her blue eyes and she returned his gaze, equally in thought. "What made you think I was worthy of death? " She looked at him like she didn't want to respond at first. She was hesitating and probably for good reason. If the tables had been turned, he would've stayed silent, but part of him just knew she would respond to him. She had already told him more than most assassins would, he guessed that she was thinking the same thing.

"A good man I am very close to told me that you were working with Better Living to export children in the refugee camp to the Dracs for testing. I was also told you were squandering supplies that were supposed to be rationed to your troops." Tiger made a face of confusion that he couldn't hide. Why would anyone ever think that about him? He was puzzled by the whole notion. Anyone who knew anything about him knew that he would give up his life in a heartbeat for both the children and the Killjoys. He couldn't concentrate on that right now; he had to focus on the interrogation.

"So what is it that made you change your mind? What made you believe I was no longer worthy of death?"

"I already told you before. I doubt a man who intended on selling those children to the Dracs would sacrifice food from his personal storage right before a storm that could potentially keep them grounded. I heard your men talking about the clouds while I was on my way to find you." She didn't hesitate that time with her answer. Something in her eyes told him that he was trusted now. They almost had a silent understanding between them.

"What makes you think that I wasn't just trying to keep them deceived until I had sent them away? They would trust me easily if I'd done that."

"I saw the kindness in your eyes… The kind you can't fake. If I hadn't seen that, you would have never caught me."

"Kindness?" He cocked his head to the side and leaned over the table, close to her for a moment, his eyes narrowed as he thought about it. "Kindness gets you killed in this world." He stood up from his chair and stepped out of the room without looking back. He needed to think. He had a plan in his mind, but he needed to think it over. The Killjoys in the east seemed to think that he was the one that was corrupt. Clearly someone amongst the Killjoys was telling lies to confuse them, but he wouldn't know if the men in the east were responsible until he spoke to them. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

"Why didn't I kill her?" He sighed heavily, speaking to himself. This woman confused him. He hadn't known her for more than an hour, if even for that long, and he was having second thoughts about killing her. He was even contemplating protecting her and that wasn't in his nature. He didn't form lasting friendships easily but he had some kind of unspoken connection with her. He knew this was dangerous, considering she had been sent to end his life. He knew he should call a meeting of his Killjoys, bring her out and shoot her in the head. He would show them what happened to traitors. But he couldn't do it. He could never do that to this woman and it was eating at him to know that.

The door squeaked open and Agent Alpaca stepped back into the room. He clearly had come to listen in on the interrogation, but he also made no effort to hide what he had intended on doing either. He looked surprised to see that Tiger Beatdown was done already, but he didn't express any concern.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm letting her go." Tiger leaned away from the wall, but still stood close to the door.

"She tried to kill you! She came in here with a gun! A gun that was designed specifically to kill _you_ and you're letting her just walk out of here?" Alpaca had always been a bit of a hot head, and this situation was steaming him up inside. "I told you earlier we had received reports of corruption in the east and now proof walks up to us and points a gun at your head and you still ignore the warnings?"

"Watch your mouth. I'm not afraid to put you in your place just because you're my friend." Tiger's stern tone let Alpaca know he wasn't messing around. "I think that the information we're getting is wrong. I think that in the east they're receiving similar claims about us. I'm going to send a messenger to deliver a letter to Party Poison personally. I'll have him meet me tomorrow afternoon after the storm in the second zone at an old hang out. We'll clear my name and if he's corrupt then I'll take him down. I want to give him a chance to explain what's happening here." Tiger stepped away from the wall and looked surprised as the door from the interrogation room opened up. The woman who would have been his assassin was looking up at him now.

"Sorry, but I was listening through the door." She closed the door behind her and stepped into the room. "I think you're right. I think someone lied to Party Poison and someone lied to you. I know you won't believe me when I tell you that Poison isn't corrupt… so I'd like to come with you to show you that he isn't. You can't tell me not to. If I'm free to go then I have to return to the east camp anyway and I'll just end up going with Party Poison to the meeting regardless of your wishes."

"She does have a point. And she's good with a gun. I think that's good enough for me."

"You can't honestly be telling me you plan on going with a woman who you don't even know… anything about! She could be a Drac for all we know!" Alpaca's objections were bordering on a tantrum now. He couldn't believe what was happening in front of him. Clearly something was amiss with this woman and his friend was refusing to see it.

"I'm going and she's welcome to join me if that's what she wishes to do. And she's welcome to walk around our camp until we head out tomorrow after the storm too. I'm sorry but I'm not returning you your weapons until we leave tomorrow, just to be safe. What is your name? Now that you're talking to me I don't really see the point of calling you just the assassin."

"You're going to laugh." Her demeanor had changed completely now that she wasn't on the other side of the interrogation table.

"Try me. Some of the names here are ridiculous. He's Agent Alpaca, for instance." Tiger smiled and pointed to him. Alpaca stared at them both, slack jawed.

"Oh, in that case, I don't feel so bad then… I'm Disco Bitch. Most people just call me Disco." Tiger did smile and laugh just a little bit.

"Well you already know who I am… so I'd say we're formally introduced. Get some rest. You can get some food down in the mess hall if you're hungry. You're going to need your strength tomorrow if something goes wrong. We'll be too close to Battery City for it to go unnoticed if it does."

"Hold on, just hold on a fucking minute!" Agent Alpaca couldn't honestly believe what was happening in front of him.

"What?"

"I'm coming with you. I don't think you're using proper judgment here and I'm not going to watch you foolishly die because some woman batted her eyelashes you!" Alpaca said defensively.

"You can come, but rest assured you don't need to protect me from this woman. Now go on. Rest, tomorrow is going to be harder than you think."


	5. Flames and Revenge

"Where the fuck is it?" The heavy shelf crashed to the ground as she shoved it with just one push, just to get behind it. Its contents spilt all over the floor, some things even being smashed beyond repair but it seemed to be the least of her concerns. Getting down on her hands and knees she ran her fingers through the dust and dirt that had been revealed, searching for something. She smashed her fist into the steel wall, the sound echoing all around her but she ignored it despite that the punch had made her wrist practically crumble from the blow. She was covered in dirt and grime from head to toe and the room behind her looked like the scene of a crime with how she'd destroyed it. She'd been searching all night long and didn't plan on giving it up at this point even though it was well into the morning. She pulled off her jacket and dug through her pockets again just to double check that the missing item wasn't in there. When had she last had it? She couldn't quite remember.

"Think, think Frenzy… Where is it? Where's the fucking lighter? What did you do with it?" It, once again, wasn't in her pockets which she had checked at least fourteen times in the last two hours alone. She'd had it in the bar, she had remembered that. If she hadn't had it when she had talked to those guys who were talking a big game she would've likely killed them with her bare hands then maimed herself. The lighter kept her calm. It was like a security blanket in a way. It kept her together and somehow she'd misplaced it. The most important thing she ever received in her life and now she'd lost it somewhere. She'd go crazy without it. She sat down on dirty floor and cursed under her breath, almost positive it couldn't be in this bunker.

"Where the fuck is it?" She furrowed her brow with worry and got up again after a moment, digging once again through the drawers and drawers of scrap metal and supplies. "Mother fucker!" She pulled her arm closed to her chest instinctively as she sliced her hand against something. It stung uncontrollably and she took a deep breath to keep from cursing again. She peered into the drawer more closely and saw the loose rusted scrap metal she'd sliced her hand on, now stained with her blood. It was bewitching for a moment, the way that the blood and the rust looked so similar in color. How much time would pass before it'd dry and change colors? She watched it drip down the side of it for a moment. It'd gotten her pretty good judging by the amount of blood. There was something about it that calmed her. She'd heard once that people cut themselves on purpose to release endorphins that would help deal with the stress of life. She much preferred flicking her lighter but this worked for the moment.

"Shit." She looked down at her bloody hand after a moment. She pulled away the fish net gloves on her palm and peered at the nasty wound. It stung as she touched it but that didn't matter much to her. Pain was just signals sent by nerve endings to her brain and as long as she thought about it like that, it wouldn't hurt nearly as badly. She pulled at the edges of the wound so she could see how deep the cut was better, ignoring the pain that came with it. The wound wasn't deep enough to need stitches, but it sure hurt like a bitch. She let it go and leaned her head back, trying to think still about her lighter and where it could be. "I need it back."

"Why can't I just let it go?" She was alone so often that she found it a comfort to talk to herself to keep from completely losing her mind. She had gotten so used to talking like this that she often did it in public, which frightened off the people around her, who were not used to such things. Of course she didn't mind that much since she had come to realize that most of the people who backed away from her weren't worth getting to know in the first place.

"Because I can't let it go." She closed her eyes, making a fist and feeling the way the wound stung from the dirt and sweat on her palms. "Let it go Frenzy…"

_That night was especially cold in Battery City despite being surrounded by the desert. Her hands were covered in blood and her clothing was torn. She stared up at the man who dwarfed her at the time. He'd saved her life. He knelt down and held out a lighter to her. She didn't know what to say, it was all still frightening to her. He urged her hands around the lighter._

_ "Keep warm." It had taken her more than a few times to get the lighter to actually work since she'd only ever seen it in practice. Once it was lit though it was like a beacon in the night calling to her, to keep her safe and warm._

"Wake up Frenzy. Spend too long with your eyes closed and you'll be locked inside." She opened her eyes and looked around. She wouldn't let it go. She couldn't let it go. She pulled off the destroyed fishnet glove and discarded it. "If I'm going to find it, I need to calm down." She got up and started to clean things up. She couldn't live like this, in a mess even if it was created by her own chaos. In all of her panic she hadn't even noticed how bad the mess was in the room now. She spent a good few hours putting it all back together.

As she flipped the last shelf back into its place she slammed her fist against the steel wall of the bunker. "Son of a bitch, he took it." She whispered in realization. The man in the bar that she'd stolen the pills from had to have taken it. She thought he was just groping her on the dance floor but instead he had been digging into her pockets while she had been digging into his. "I'll fucking kill him. I will burn him alive." She snarled under her breath, her lips quivering with rage. She grabbed the open pill bottle on her design desk and dumped a handful out. She threw the bottles into the open file cabinet next to her and shoved the pills in her pocket. She swallowed two tablets dry and cracked her neck. She didn't know this fucker's name she only knew that he was a dealer, maybe once an addict. She had to find him and when she did, he'd regret ever touching her. Once she had her lighter back, revenge would be easy.

"Where to start…" She paced and then decided that staying in her bunker wouldn't do any good. It certainly wouldn't help her find this guy. She needed to go back to the party, or ask about him around the zones. If he were an addict he'd be easy to find but dealers were harder to locate since they actually had their wits about them. She felt a chilling sensation down her back from the medicine she'd taken. Closing her eyes she adjusted to the numbness it brought her and after a few moments she was able to regain her senses.

"Harvey will know. I'll ask him." She left the bunker and got on her motorcycle then headed back to the bar she'd caused a scene at before the party. It was called Turn Back, an appropriate name for the last bar in the zones before things got really dangerous. Most establishments would frown upon the fact that she had blown up two cars in the parking lot but Harvey didn't seem to mind so much. As long as she didn't burn down his bar or kill anyone inside the main room he didn't kick her out. He said it was okay if she killed them in the back room as long as they deserved it and she cleaned up after herself. It didn't take long to get there since she'd been there thousands of times and she focused on getting her lighter back the whole time so it'd been a good distraction. Without it in her pocket her hands shook. She imagined it was worse losing this than it would be to break the habit of the pills she'd been hooked on for the last four years but she didn't want to have to experience either.

She didn't bother parking off to the side and left the motorcycle in front of the door. She headed into the old bar and saw Harvey restocking the shelves. He didn't have many customers during the morning hours so the place was empty and would be likely until sunset.

"Frenzy, everything okay?" He stopped stocking the shelves and looked up at her. He could instantly see she was in some sort of distress.

"I can't find it, Harvey."

"What can't you find?" He got up from where he was kneeling behind the bar. He stepped around the boxes next to her and approached her cautiously. She looked pale and sick, well paler and sicker than she usually did. She was always sort of off color. He saw the blood crusted and dried on her hand and widened his eyes. "Frenzy what the hell did you do now?"

"He took it, the bastard took my lighter!" She pulled her hand back defensively as he tried to grab it to take a look at it.

"What? Who did? What bastard? What happened to your hand?"

"The drug dealer at the party! I stole his drugs, he stole my lighter. Will you fucking stop it?" She pulled her hand back again and then relented as he gave her a look that was insistent upon checking at the wound on her hand. She knew she had to give in or he wouldn't talk to her anymore.

"You stole drugs from a dealer? That's stupid, even for you."

"Where else am I supposed to steal them from? Addicts need them more than I do so dealers always have them."

"You are an addict, you realize that right?"  
>"And you're an enabler so will you help me or should I go just start killing every dealer I find until I get my goddamn lighter back?" She snarled in frustration. Her heart was racing and her head was pounding. Nothing made sense to her anymore. She felt lost without the lighter, she kept flicking the fingers of her left hand to try and start the fire she was so used to having with her all the time.<p>

"Calm down Frenzy, I'll help you. Don't I always help you?"

"I need my lighter Harvey, you don't understand." She let him pour the alcohol on her hand and for a few seconds was able to keep a straight face before curling her lips in discomfort. Harvey couldn't help but smile just a little bit.

"See, you are human." He smiled a little bit at her. "What you need is a tetanus shot. There's rust all over your hand, you could die from this."

"I'll worry about that when I have my lighter. Now will you help me?" He could tell she wasn't going to budge from her viewpoint so he cleaned up her hand and started to wrap it with some gauze. He'd become almost like a parent to her in the past couple of years. He'd take care of her when she got into a scrape and give her advice even if she didn't want it, which she usually didn't. "He had green eyes at the time, but they looked brown by the end of it. Hazel I suppose… Is that the word for it?"

"You expect me to know him by… his eye color?"

"Shut up and let me finish describing him." She tugged her hand back but Harvey didn't let go. He finished wrapping up her hand and then let go of it finally. "He had red hair… black roots… looks like he never bathed. Flirting mercilessly and thought he was good at it too. You could tell it was all a front though… blue jacket… patch on it… a horse maybe? Khaki colored jeans… black boots…" Frenzy scrunched up her face as she tried to remember the man who had come onto her the night before.

"Oh, that's Party Poison." Harvey snapped his fingers in realization, cleaning up the mess he'd made cleaning up her hand. "He comes in here sometimes with Kobra Kid. They're usually trouble so I kick them out when I see them."

"Kobra Kid?" Fire Frenzy smirked, knowing exactly who that was. She knew exactly how to find this man now. "Thanks Harvey." She didn't wave or say another word even though Harvey looked like he wanted to say more. She'd done work for Kobra Kid before. She was going to hit Party Poison hard, he'd never see her coming.

* * *

><p>He flicked the lighter in his hand, watching the flame glow, lighting up his dark room. He had been just staring at it for hours since Disco left. He knew eventually it would run out of the fuel inside of it but he was fascinated with it and couldn't stop flicking. Clearly the woman had been in love with this lighter. It was covered in etchings, initials, drawings. It had been painted and repainted and had been opened and refilled many times, he could tell by the scratches from her nails on the end of it. He wondered what kind of a woman she was as he hummed to himself. He picked up the yellowed notebook he had lying next to him and scribbled down a few words, muttering them as he did.<p>

"Everybody hit the pyro cue…" He muttered it over and over until it had a flow to it and smiled to himself. He flicked the lighter again and burnt the edge of the paper before blowing it out, the ashes scattering onto his pants.

"Writing again?" Kobra Kid said as he opened the door to his brother's home and closed the door behind him so that the bright sun wouldn't blind his brother who had likely been up all night. His home wasn't much, just a one room building with all the amenities in it plus a shower in the back behind a private curtain. Party Poison didn't spend much time here other than to sleep unless he didn't want to be found in that case he hid here since it was the last place anyone would look for him. This was definitely one of those times. He fumbled with the lighter and shoved it in his pocket even though it'd become obvious he was trying to hide it. Kobra just stared at him for a moment in confusion. It had been obvious what he was hiding from him but he chose not to bring it up immediately and to just wait for a response to his question.

"Uh… what?" Party Poison cleared his throat, and desperately tried to wipe the ash off of his legs and the paper. He didn't know why he was so obsessed with this girl, perhaps because she'd gotten the best of him. That had to be it, if nothing else he had to find her to get revenge. He didn't like when people got the best of him and those who did had a short lifespan.

"I asked if you were writing again." Kobra pulled a chair from the table and sat down next to his brother, propping his black boots up on the table. Party Poison still stared at him like he were some kind of alien, obviously having no idea what he was talking about. "Music, you were writing a song right? In your notebook? The one your lap…" Kobra's voice took on a more condescending tone.  
>"Oh! Oh yeah… Yeah I was writing… Um…" He reached into his pocket and fumbled with the top of the lighter. He could feel the small fire symbols engraved into the top. He'd memorized the entire thing ever since he'd gotten back to his home. "Got some new inspiration and figured while we wait for Disco to get back with news of what happened… Hey why not do some writing for a new song for the band?"<p>

"Yeah, makes sense." The two sat in silence for a few moments. Party Poison was tapping his left foot nervously and trying not to make it obvious that he was playing with his lighter in his pocket, but he knew his brother was suspicious of him. He picked up the yellow notebook again and started to scribble out a few more lyrics, but all he really wanted to think about was the woman at the party and how he was going to find her.

"So, what were you really doing… you know… when I walked in and you freaked out like I'd caught you with your hand in your pants?" Kobra slipped his feet off the table and leaned his elbows on his knees, looking at his brother, confused.

"Gross, Kobra…" Poison made a face but he was really just trying to distract from the conversation. He knew his brother was going to get irritated about him being obsessed with some girl and her lighter while they had such important things going on elsewhere.

"Come on, you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah okay, I do…" Party Poison sighed and flipped the lighter onto the table for his brother to see. He watched it spin and shook his head in dismay. "I took it from the girl at the party last night."

"You mean the one who stole your drugs right, while you were too distracted by her ass?"

"Don't remind me." Party Poison grumbled, even though he hadn't stopped thinking about the exchange all night and into the morning. He was going to have to be more careful in situations like that. He was so fixated on fulfilling a primal desire that he hadn't noticed her reaching into his pocket and pulling out those pill bottles. He would have to learn to keep his eyes on the women he tried to seduce. It was just so rare that any of them had any brains that he had to keep an eye out for. Poison picked the lighter back up and flipped the top open one more time.

"Wait, let me see that…" Kobra reached to take the lighter from his hands and sighed in frustration as Party Poison pulled it out of his reach. He made a face at his brother as if to say that touching it were out of the question. "Put the eyebrows down and give me the damn lighter so I can take a look!" Kobra couldn't help but laugh a little bit at the startled expression that Party Poison was giving him.

Poison looked at his brother for a long moment, contemplating whether or not to hand over the lighter. He could take it and not give it back, or he could even break it and then he'd never solve the mysteries that it held. He trusted his brother though and slowly extended his hand, holding out the lighter to him. Kobra had to pry open his fingers to get it out and pulled it away. "You're ridiculous, you know." He turned so his back was to his brother and looked over the markings on the lighter.

Party Poison stood up and peered over Kobra's shoulder so he could see what his brother was doing to it. He trusted him but he was also incredibly curious of what he wanted with it in the first place.

"Oh you are a dumb fuck Poison." Kobra shook his head, realizing why he'd recognized the lighter. "She's going to hunt you down and kill you for taking this thing. I can't believe how fucking stupid you are right now."

"You know her then?" Party Poison looked at his brother in disbelief. He snatched the lighter back up from his hands and sat down in his chair once more. He let his fingers brush over the carvings on the lighter once again. To him they were precious.

"Yeah, Fire Frenzy. She's a pretty well known arsonist actually… and a weapons dealer. A damn good one at that." Kobra sighed and shook his head. "She's extremely hard to find… but worth the effort. I heard she's a nutcase though and that's her lighter. You took an arsonist's lighter Poison. She's not going to think that's funny."

"I think it's kinda funny…" Party Poison shrugged and gave his brother a half of a smirk. The situation was comical, surely he'd have to agree with that. "Where can I find her? I mean… you obviously know who she is so we must have used her before. Where did you find her last time?"

"Listen Poison I think you're getting in over your head… I think you should bring the lighter to a contact of hers with an apology note and hope she doesn't kill you for taking it."

"I'll consider that." Poison shrugged it off easily, playing with the lighter again, flicking it, watching it spark. He merely said that to amuse his brother but he would never consider it.

"No, you won't. You're going to go after her just like I told you not to. We have more important things to worry about. You remember… the fact that Tiger Beatdown is killing our men in the west? And the fact that we have to take him down to save our organization? That sounds like it's more important than some girl who got the best of you and wouldn't let you in her pants." Kobra Kid hoped his words would get through to his brother, but he knew well enough from experience that it's likely they wouldn't.

"Listen Kobra." Poison stood up and put the lighter back in his pocket. He slipped his blue jacket back on and adjusted the collar. "I know what I'm doing. I've been able to run this faction of the Killjoys for years without you breathing down my neck. You get to talk to me like this out of courtesy because you're my brother… but you keep questioning my authority and my motives and that courtesy will be taken away. I'll treat you like any other grunt around here. I know what's going on in the west is serious but there's not much I can do about it until I hear back from Disco. So unless you'd rather me sit here and wring my hands nervously I suggest you back off about this woman… Fire Frenzy you called her? That's appropriate actually." He couldn't help but smile a bit as he thought about the carvings on the lighter. He turned and leaned against the wall near the door. He rarely talked to his brother in such a tone but all this talk of rebellion amongst the Killjoys made him more nervous than he was willing to admit. "Have you heard from Disco by the way? It's been long enough for her to get the job done."

"No…" Kobra Kid sighed, turning to look at his brother once more. He was worried that his brother's rash decisions were going to get him killed. "I only say these things to protect you. You should know that by now. I don't want people to think your needs are put above that of the Killjoys. You're a great leader Poison, but sometimes you get distracted by stupid shit."

"I'm pretty sure everyone knows that I'm loyal to the cause by now. Now… no news from Disco? That's not like her. She should've checked in by now." Party Poison just wanted him to change the subject at this point. He needed his brother to cool down so he could weasel the location of where he'd last met Fire Frenzy out of him.

"I know. She usually checks in by now. I'm worried too. She stopped responding hours ago on the radio which means something's up. I was told she got her gun… I think she was terminated… either that or she turned on us." Kobra shrugged his shoulders, but the weight in the room was heavy.

"No way. Not Disco. She's incredibly loyal to me… not to mention she's a good person. You know what she's been through Kobra and you know I trust her. It's more likely she was exterminated than it would be for her turn on me." Party Poison looked serious. He trusted his people, especially the ones that he considered friends, and he'd defend their honor to the death.

"Things aren't the way they used to be five years ago Poison. You can't trust anyone in this world anymore."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." Poison walked over to the table and picked up the old worn driving gloves he always wore when he went out. He grabbed his laser gun and stuck it in the holster on his hip. He firmly believed humanity was filled with kind and generous people who were just misguided and afraid. "Now where did you say you met with Fire Frenzy again?"

"Second Zone near the old warehouse on Washington… Wait… I didn't tell you where I met her…" Kobra stood up, knowing he couldn't stop Poison from going anywhere but he could at least leave him some things to think about. "You should leave this girl alone. You're going to get in over your head and either get killed or get someone else killed in the process. Would it be worth it? Just to satisfy your ego?"

"I know what I'm doing. Let me know if you hear from Disco." He went to leave.

"You're too trusting Poison. It's going to be your downfall." Poison stopped in the doorway and looked back at his brother over his shoulder.

"Once we stop trusting each other and fighting amongst ourselves… this whole cause is lost Kobra. Have some faith for once. I do." He walked off without another word.

He couldn't dwell on what his brother said or the things that were going on in the west. It was too much chaos and it was all beyond his control. Dwelling on it wouldn't help anyone and it'd just drive him mad, or worse, back to drinking and drugs. He could only concentrate on what he could control and right now that was finding this woman who had taken his pills. He wasn't sure why he wanted to find her other than he wanted to somehow have the last laugh in a situation where he'd been made a fool of.

She'd pulled the wool over his eyes and even though he had ended up with her lighter he hadn't gotten either of the things that he wanted that night. She had taken his pills that he'd intended to sell for a profit and she'd only feigned interest in him to get them out of his pocket for her own use. He walked outside and then walked over to the old beaten Trans Am that he'd spent the last few months fixing up. He'd painted a giant spider on the front of it for no reason in particular other than he felt it looked pretty killer. He always thought spiders looked intimidating and they never pretended to be anything they weren't. They didn't disguise themselves in beauty and peace when they were sincerely venomous. Though, he was probably one of the few people in the world that still found beauty in spiders.

He smirked at that thought as he drove with the music blasting loud. He kept the window rolled down, patting out a drum beat on the side of the door as he drove. Music was a huge influence on his lifestyle and he had his most sane thoughts while he was driving with the music turned up real loud. It was his way of releasing pent up frustration and escaping the harsh reality he lived. He wrote music and played it for the other Killjoys and anyone who could sneak into the show. He called his band Mad Gear and the Missile Kid, with no real particular reason why. When he played he preferred to wear a mask so that he wouldn't be recognized outside of the shows. He didn't want the attention, just the relief of the adrenaline rush it gave him.

He turned off the engine of the car as he reached the end of the third zone. He wanted to make sure that if anything happened, such as this woman actually attacking him, he would be able to make a run for it and get to his car without her realizing what he was doing. Plus if anyone from Better Living was walking around he would be recognized and attacked without any questions. It was always good to live cautiously when you were this close to Battery City.

He locked up the car and started into the second zone on foot. It was unusually quiet today. He'd walked through the old musty town in front of the run down warehouse that Kobra had told him was where he had met the woman, Fire Frenzy, the day prior. She was obviously nowhere in sight but perhaps he could ask around and talk to some people who might recognize her. He'd drawn up a little sketch of what he remembered of her from the night before: blue eyes, pale skin, messy black and red hair, chapped lips.

It was folded up in his back pocket which he patted to make sure it still made that paper crinkling sound. Now he had to find someone to ask about her. That was odd. There was no one around at all. Not even a single pedestrian in the street. Usually when he came this far into the zones he'd find children running around and he'd have to give them something to get them to stop following him. But now, instead, when the people who lived here saw him they cowered back into their homes.

He stopped in the middle of a dusty street and looked around. It was like a scene from a bad western, the kind he used to love before his old television broke. "Grab your six-gun motherfucker…" He whispered under his breath as he looked around. Something wasn't right here. He scanned the area for possible hiding places and for people who seemed out of place. He ducked low as he heard the sound of a laser gun blast. In a panic he grabbed his gun and fired back in the direction he'd assumed it had come from. He had to take cover but he needed to see who was coming for him. If it were Dracs he had to hightail it but he had a feeling that it was nothing that Better Living Industries had caused.

"Raise your hands high! We've got you fucking surrounded!" He jumped out of the way just in time as another laser blast hit the spot where he'd been standing. His heart was racing. They were Killjoys. One he didn't recognize was the shooting at him, and he could hear more. If she said they had surrounded him then it was likely they really had. That was why everyone was hiding, they knew something violent was going to happen here today. He fired a few shots at the woman with the bright red hair in the green goggles but he missed on purpose. They were more like a warning.

"Who sent you? Tiger Beatdown?" He shouted but the woman just laughed at him.

"You'd like to know who sent us, wouldn't you? You asked for this Party Poison!"

"Shit!" Poison fell back as he stumbled out of the way of another blow. He braced himself and aimed his gun away as a man in red leather jumped at him, knocking him onto his ass. He managed to keep the grip on his gun but had to struggle to regain his vision as he received a punch right to his jaw. He flipped his gun in his hand and swung it like a bat right at the Killjoy's head. It'd been a long time since he pistol whipped anyone. "Get the fuck off of me!" He kicked him off and rolled out of the way at the sound of another blast. He could easily shoot them, get them to leave him alone but he couldn't do that to his own people. "Listen whatever Tiger is offering you it's not worth betraying the cause! We can work this out!"

"Betraying the cause?" The man he'd just bested was wiping his bloody lip as he got to his feet. He looked dazed. "You're the one who betrayed us!"

"The crimes against you are many, Party Poison! Now put down the laser and die with dignity!" They were staring him down and were clearly serious about their accusations. They were going to kill him because they seemed to think he'd betrayed them in some way. He knew there would be no talking sense into them at this point. They thought he was a traitor and anything he said would feed into their beliefs. There were two choices here. One: he could do what they asked and forfeit his life there and die a traitor in their eyes. Or two: he could show those fuckers who they were messing with and find out what the fuck was going on behind his back. He didn't recognize any of these Killjoys. Someone had to be lying to them because anyone who knew him would know he'd sooner die than help the Dracs.

The choice was easy. He fired a shot at the woman standing with her gun aimed at him. She ducked instinctively out of the way and he grabbed the neck of the man close and shoved him in the line of fire. They wouldn't shoot at their own people; at least that's what he was counting on. He kicked the back of the man's knees, knocking him to the ground and ran into the warehouse. Luckily the windows were boarded since the building was condemned and they wouldn't be able to break into them easily. He locked the door and then searched around for something to block it. He peeked quickly out the window to assess the situation. There were at least ten of them out there and he knew there was likely more still hiding. He knew that any good leader of an assault like this would send them around to find alternate entrances to the warehouse. He had a short window of opportunity to find his own way out.

"Come out now! You can't outrun us! You know that!"

"You'll never get me alive motherfuckers!" He yelled as he pushed an old broken useless stove in front of the door. It had been heavy but his will to survive was stronger than he'd expected it to be. He didn't look back out the windows before he ran through the old building, not being wary of the old creaky floor. He was lucky that nothing broke beneath his weight. He headed up the stairs toward the roof. He had to find a way out and soon. He kept his gun aimed low as he ran and listened for the sound of people coming into the building after him. So far he heard nothing but his own footsteps.

"What am I going to do?" He grabbed the lighter from his pocket and put it to his lips, kissing it, closing his eyes in thought. "Wish me luck."


	6. Adrenaline Rush

"What the fuck am I going to do?" He could hear people banging at the walls and the windows down below. He was lucky that the place was abandoned a long time ago so that the windows and other entrances were boarded over and the only thing that had been open was the door he'd broken into to get away from those who pursued him. Disco Bitch surely had to be dead if there were Killjoys out from the west attacking him. How else would they know that he had been onto their leader's plot? But why would they call him the traitor? Had Tiger so filled their minds with lies about what was going on over in the east that they were consumed with this kind of rage for him? They had wanted him dead! They didn't even give him a chance to defend himself. There was no trial, not chance for him to explain a reason for the crimes against him or to even find out the charges. All he knew is that these Killjoys were out for his blood.

He clutched the lighter in his hand so hard that he could feel the engravings of smoke, fire and explosions on it leaving indentations on his sweaty palms. What could he do to get out of this situation? He looked up. The only way out was up there. He had to try to make it to the roof and then he could figure this out from there. It was dangerous going up and he'd known from every bad movie he'd watch on VHS that going up usually meant there was no way out. Essentially going to the roof was more like a trap. They'd eventually break in and he'd have nowhere to escape to. But, the buildings in this area of the zones were built really close together and with any luck he'd be able to jump from roof to roof until he found a way down. He'd only done it a few times before in the past and it's possible he could plummet to his death in the process but it was a risk he was willing to take. It was better to die of his own stupidity than to die being called a traitor.

The problem with this plan was he needed all eyes to be diverted away from him to make a clean getaway. If people saw what he was doing then it would defeat the purpose of the escape plan he'd devised. He stopped on the third floor of the storage building and looked down at the lighter in his palm. Some of the paint was coming off on his hand, leaving a reddish stain on his skin. He looked around the room to see what he could use. There were old broken chairs, desks and wardrobes in this room. They were all flammable, made out of old fragile wood. They looked like they'd break if they were thrown.

"That could work…" He could set them on fire and use them like bombs out the windows. His initial thought had been to set the building itself on fire but that would compromise the integrity of the building and make it harder for him to survive his escape. At this point he needed every bit of help he could get to make it out alive. He needed to get back to headquarters and alert his Killjoys of the plot to kill them. He would have to figure out how to approach this situation with Tiger Beatdown without killing all of his men. The only thing he could think to do was to take the west encampment by force which wouldn't be easy since he knew it would all be underground. He had old schematics of it somewhere but knew that the layout had likely changed a long time ago.

"Shut up…" He muttered to himself. He couldn't think of any of this now, there wasn't any time for it. All he really wanted was to find the arms dealer who belonged to this lighter and ask her to give him his drugs back or pay for them. He really wanted to find some way to get everything he had intended to get from her in the first place but he wasn't going to count on it with the way things were going for him right now. He had to get on task. Thinking about a thousand things at once wasn't doing him any favors. In fact it was just making him move slower than he needed to be in order to get out of this situation.

He walked over to the closest window and slipped the lighter back into his pocket. He grabbed the wooden board and tugged on it hard. He could hear the wood splintering and he pulled it from the wall with another swift tug. He slipped back and nearly lost his balance as the board came loose. He winced from the sudden bright light outside. He hadn't even realized how dim the interior of the building was until that moment. He pulled each board out of the wall, board after board, until the window was free. He used his elbow to shatter the remaining glass and then he grabbed the nearest chair. He swung it at the wall as hard as he could and it shattered into pieces easily. He still held two of the legs in his hands. He dropped one and slipped the lighter from his pocket. He flicked it and watched the flame glow. The leg of the chair caught fire and he walked over to the window and threw it out outside.

He ducked back as he saw the flash of the lasers shooting up toward where the wooden projectile had been thrown. He lit another part of the chair on fire and broke another window; this one hadn't been boarded up. He threw it out there and heard more yelling in response. He risked a look out the window, adjusting the yellow and black mask on his face. He threw the remainder of the chair out of the window and down below.

He hoped that it had landed on some of the garbage and dying plants outside of the building and he'd start some kind of chaotic fire out there. He knew that'd be the best case scenario but it was unlikely to happen. He wished he still had a few of those bombs from the other night but he didn't even bring his backpack. There was no way he could've known what was going to happen today. He thought he was just going to get slapped around by some girl. He broke up another chair and continued to throw the flaming projectiles out the window. He took a chance on stopping the rain of fire he'd created and ran up the last and final staircase. The door at the top read "Roof Access Only" and he tried the handle. It was rusted shut. Just his luck.

"Fuck, shit…" He furrowed his brow and just headed back down the stairs. He'd have to take it at a running start and risk dislocating his shoulder. He gritted his teeth, grabbed the old wooden railing and pulled back on it hard to make sure it'd support his weight. When he was sure that it would he pushed off of the railing and ran up the stairs as fast as he could muster. He pushed his shoulder forward and rammed himself into the door. At first it didn't give way and he could feel the force of the blow all the way through his shoulders and down his spine as he hit the metallic door. He rammed at it a second time without building up the momentum he had the first time, since he knew the adrenaline would fade and lead to pain, and the door frame cracked enough to allow the rust to free the door from its clutches.

He had to shove it and kick it a few times but the door swung open after a few tries. In fact it flipped off the hinges and crashed onto the roof of the building. It was much windier up here than it had been down below. He looked around and could see smoke coming from the streets. His plan had, somehow, worked. It had been a serious force of luck that had made his that fire catch and spread. He could've just thrown the flaming pieces of wood out there and it could've fizzled out and done nothing. He would've gotten laughed at, captured and killed but things worked out in his favor against the odds. He could see the building across the way. He couldn't tell what the distance was but he'd have to risk it was close enough to make.

"This is fucking stupid…" He muttered under his breath, slipping the lighter back into his pants pocket. He had to keep it safe; it was his only bargaining chip with that arms dealer. He looked over the edge of the building. There was no one below. He could hear yelling but assumed everyone was trying to get into the building from below and handle the fires that he'd started.

"You can do this Poison, you can do it…" He took a deep breath. The more he looked over the edge the more he'd psych himself out. There was a slim possibility he wouldn't die if he missed the edge of the next building. If nothing else he'd shatter his legs and be left to the traitorous Killjoys below. At least if he died in the fall they couldn't say they killed him.

"Fuck it!" He ran toward the edge of the building and jumped. It was further than it looked but he managed to get one foot on the edge of the building. The force of the jump and the landing buckled his knees. Poison instinctively grabbed onto the side of the building and pulled himself on top of it. He rolled to safety and placed his hand against his chest. He made the sign of the cross over his chest, even though he wasn't a religious man. It just felt like he should thank somebody for keeping him safe. He got to his feet. He didn't have time to sit there and celebrate his success. He had to jump to the next building until he found one with a fire escape that was far enough away from the Killjoys pursuing him that they wouldn't be stationed beneath to watch for him.

"Okay, second time should be easier." He dusted off his hands, which were now thoroughly scraped from the things he'd done in the last few moments, then continued to the other end of the building. He crouched low as he heard people running past. The Killjoys were getting violent and it looked like the people from the zones were coming out of their homes to try and stop the attack on him. He'd have to come back here after this had all blown over and thank them… if he, in fact, survived.

Across the gap to the next building he leapt and he landed in a roll. He felt like a fucking ninja doing shit like this. When he told Mikey what he had to do he'd be horrified, he was sure. He was looking forward to that. He gave up on dusting himself off, resigning to being a dirty mess and continued on. Building after building he jumped. It got less terrifying as he continued onward but the adrenaline high didn't decrease at all. By the time he got to the last building on the block he was laughing hysterically. He crouched down, resting his hands on his knees and stopped just to catch his breath in between fits of laughter.

"Take that you dicks!" He spat to the side and then walked over to the edge. He could see the fire escape railing below. He'd have to try and be as quiet as possible landing on the metallic landing as not to draw attention to himself. Hopefully he was far enough away that any noise he made wouldn't be carried to the ears of the Killjoys at the other end of the block who were likely waiting for him to do something just like this. Surely they had to have realized he wasn't in the building anymore. He hadn't done a very good job of blocking the doorway and hadn't even checked for a rear entrance.

He grabbed onto the edge of the building and carefully lowered himself down. His hands stung from the effort. He let his feet rest on top of the window sill below and slowly slid one hand down to grasp it. It was only about an inch in length so keeping his grip on it was tough. He managed somehow and slipped down onto the fire escape landing with a dull thud. He waited for a moment to see if there was any movement inside the apartment that he'd landed next to.

A moment was long enough to know that he'd managed to land without alerting any of his pursuers. He hurried down the stair case on the fire escape, running on the tips of his toes so that he'd make less noise on the metallic stairs. He managed to get to the bottom. By this point in his pursuit he was fearless. He'd managed to successfully create a distraction and jump across the tops of about eight buildings then narrowly escape down a fire escape. He didn't even think about the last jump. It was about ten feet to the ground from the last fire escape ledge. He landed on the ground and got up, turned in the opposite direction of the fighting and ran smack right into another person. Naturally the moment he stopped being wary would be when he would run into someone who could put an end to his successful escape.

"You!" Agent Alpaca's eyes were wide with rage. He'd seen the destruction the Killjoys were causing in this zone and since he knew they weren't from the west he could only assume they were doing this under Party Poison's command.

"Yeah, didn't expect me to make it out alive did you, fucker?" He instantly went after Alpaca, recognizing him from when they'd met years ago. He punched Agent Alpaca in the face and watched him buckle, instantly thrusting his fist into his gut. With a swift kick he knocked him to the ground. Alpaca coughed in surprise. He didn't remember Party Poison being this vicious. Poison approached him, hand on his laser gun but Alpaca jumped back to his feet and ran head first toward him. With a loud noise of discomfort he knocked Poison down to the ground. His fist was stopped before it reached Poison's face and he used his other hand to go for his throat.

Poison gagged at the sensation of the man's hand being shoved at his windpipe. He spit at the man's face.

"You'll regret that you son of a bitch!" Alpaca pulled his hand free and went to punch Poison again but he was eluded. In that split second Poison twisted Alpaca's wrist, kicked him off and rolled out of the way. He pushed himself up onto his knees and took deep breaths to try and relieve his lungs that had started to ache from being choked.

Alpaca had fallen on the ground but had just as quickly picked himself back up. He couldn't let that traitor get away with this. First he'd sent a woman to kill his friend and now he was attacking the innocent people of the second zone with an army of bloodthirsty, clearly brainwashed, Killjoys. They stared each other down, far enough away from each other that they couldn't physically harm each other but close enough that they could see if the other made a move.

Sirens were suddenly screaming- deafening. Agent Alpaca looked around, feeling his chest tighten with anxiety. Someone had told on them. Someone had gone to the fucking Dracs and reported the Killjoy activity in their zone. Any second the place would be swarming with the men in white suits and vampire masks. Poison didn't remove his eyes from Alpaca. He couldn't fight a threat that wasn't there yet but felt a chill race down his spine. They'd send the fucking Scarecrow. They always sent that fucker Korse out these days, just to spite him. He'd shot him several times and he'd still not died. The last time they met Poison had taken a knife to his face and narrowly made it out alive.

He didn't have time right now to think about the man coming for him but he could already see the laser guns going off as the Dracs infiltrated the second zone. Poison's gun grew hotter in his hand from the perspiration building from nerves.

"This is fucking stupid…" He muttered under his breath.

"Fuck! Run! Run! You!" The red headed Killjoy with the goggles who'd called him a traitor spotted him as she told her troops to retreat. "This is your fault! You told the Dracs we were here! You traitor!"

"What? No!" Poison finally took his glance way from Alpaca who seemed too shocked to react much anyway. He stepped forward to object, to help them but Korse got there first.

The woman dropped down to the ground dead, blood spilling over her lips. Poison cursed under his breath and immediately started firing his laser at the man. His hand was shaking, trembling and Dracs were fighting their way to him and Alpaca. The other Killjoys were closing in on him now but they fell one by one like dominos as Korse tried to make his way to Party Poison. Luckily there were enough of them to give him some time to get away from Agent Alpaca.

"We have to go. We can't fight him, he can't be beaten." Poison muttered and started to turn away from Agent Alpaca who was having none of that. He grabbed the man by his arm and practically threw him into the building close to them. Poison stumbled to regain himself, the wind knocked out of him. Alpaca shoved him again against the wall, pointing the gun at his jaw.

"Don't you fucking move, I swear to God one inch and I'll blow your fucking brains in."

"Oh shut up!" Party Poison head butted him and shoved him backwards. "I'm not going to die for you or your fucking friends. This is all your fucking fault anyway! Aren't you upset? Your men are dying! And for what? For some cause you can't even name? Fuck you!"

"What the fuck are you talking about? Don't play mind games with me!"

"Alpaca!" Tiger yelled, running toward them through the chaos. "Poison, don't hurt him!"

"Fine, I'll hurt you instead…" Poison let his mouth hang open as he turned his gun, aiming the laser at the leader of the western Killjoys. He'd had enough of these games. He would squeeze the trigger and take them all out. But then something shocked him to a stopping point. Disco Bitch was following closely behind Tiger Beatdown. "You fucking bitch! You goddamn traitor! All that work! All the struggling against these fucks and you turn on me?" He approached her and went to aim at her but Tiger pulled out his own gun and aimed it at Party Poison.

Poison looked at his old friend and gritted his teeth. He'd never been so angry with anything in his life. His body was shaking and trembling with rage.

"You're all fucking traitors! Traitors! Fuck!" Poison couldn't linger. Korse had a taste for his blood. He would keep trying to make his way over to him. He could see the other Killjoys were a distraction for the Scarecrow but ultimately he was always hunting for him. It was like a sadistic game to him and Party Poison was the rabbit- his prey.

"I don't have the time for your bullshit! I should shoot you mother fuckers all right now and risk the fucking Scarecrow taking my head. It'd be worth it rather than to defend some traitors and their bullshit they pulled on me!"

"Poison! Calm down! You're wrong about Tiger Beatdown! He's not a traitor." Disco stepped in front of Tiger who still aimed his laser at the red faced leader of the eastern Killjoys. None of them had seen Party Poison so angry before. He looked like if they got close enough he'd kill them on the spot. Disco knew that he actually would too if they gave him the opportunity. He wasn't known for it amongst the Killjoys, but he was a ruthless killer.

"Shut up!" He yelled. Disco did quiet down for a second but could see that he was panicking a little and thought she owed it to him to try and convince him of this.

"Listen to me! You were wrong! Whoever told you Tiger was a traitor lied to you! Someone told him _you_ were the traitor! We came here to talk to you! Why did you come here if you didn't believe me?"

"Believe you? What the hell are you talking about?" Poison hesitated. If what she said was true they had bigger things to worry about. Who'd sent the Killjoys after him? They had to be from the west. None of this was adding up or making any sense. Clearly she'd fallen for Tiger Beatdown's lies. He had thought she was smarter than that. "Bullshit! I came here looking for an arms dealer! It had nothing to do with you! You stopped contacting base when you went into the seventh zone! You're either stupid or a traitor too! So back the fuck off! Look around you! These Killjoys? They're here to kill me. He sent them! Where else would they come from?" Poison yelled.

He didn't care about being found out anymore. He needed to get away from these idiots and find shelter until the Scarecrow had to retreat. Korse thrived on the darkness like a real vampire but Poison was convinced it was all the experimenting Better Living had done on him. The only thing Party Poison could ever compare him too was a poem he'd read once by TS Eliot. His fear was getting to his nerves. He was tough enough to handle it but it made him twitch, made him concentrate on the words that had haunted him for nights and nights in his dreams after he'd read them.

_Eyes I dare not meet in dreams_

_ In death's dream kingdom_

_ These do not appear_

_ There, the eyes are_

_ Sunlight on a broken column_

_ There, is a tree swinging_

_ And voices are_

_ In the wind's singing_

_ More distant and more solemn_

_ Than a fading star._

"My men are at their post in the west! These aren't my Killjoys Party Poison! I just received word today from a scout that you were seen torturing your men and teaming up with Better Living but I knew you would never do such a thing! Please, hear me out!" Tiger shouted desperate to try and find a quick resolution before they were all killed.

"We don't have time for this! Korse is going to fucking kill us all!" Poison winced, the words repeating in his head. "Here it comes, brace yourself!"

_ Here we go round the prickly pear_

_ Prickly pear prickly pear_

_ Here we go round the prickly pear_

_ At five o'clock in the morning._

As if he'd been cued in, Korse walked straight toward them. He was covered in the blood of Killjoys he'd mowed down on his way here. He often just shot them and then pulled them apart for fun. It was all a sick game. That was why they called him the Scarecrow at first- because he ripped his victim's limb from limb and destroyed their faces. Later Poison guessed that he was some kind of reanimated creature with no soul which was why the poem was so damn fitting. His arm was hanging limp at his side from an injury he'd received but it didn't seem to phase him much.

"Run rabbit, run…" He growled, showing off the long scar that went from the bridge of his nose, beneath his eye to his jaw line. He licked his lips as he spotted the red headed Killjoy.

"Run! Run we have no fucking time!" Poison shoved Alpaca further from him and turned his back to them. He didn't want to turn his back toward Korse, the man was a slime ball. He wouldn't hesitate to shoot him in the back when he was running. No decent man would shoot someone running for their life.

"That's right. Keep running…" Korse cracked his neck and rushed at Poison, knocking him to the ground. Poison lost his gun, it fell to the side in the dirt. The man was ungodly fast when he wanted to be. Poison felt like a fool every time that he'd gotten into this situation.

"Poison!" Disco yelled, aiming her gun and firing a shot at Korse who merely twitched at the feeling of the electrical bullet shooting through his body, though smoke began to emit from his shoulder where the blow had landed.

He put his hands to Party Poison's throat and hissed at him as he spoke.

"I promised you I'd get you back…" He grinned wickedly. Party Poison knew he was toying with him. He was starting to gag from the constriction of the air in his throat. Spots interrupted his vision but somehow he managed to muster the energy to spit in Korse's face even though some of it came splattering back on his own skin. This had been the second time in the last hour that he'd been nearly choked to death and retaliated with spit. It seemed like a good method to him.

"Fuck… you…" He managed to choke. "I told you fuckers to run!" He said all in one gasp. He didn't know why he was defending these people that only seconds ago he wanted to kill. Perhaps Disco's words had gotten to him after all.

A whistling sound came from the distance and Korse had just turned his head to the side to inquiry what the noise was and where it'd come from when a homemade rocket hit him in the side, shoved him back and pushed him through the wall of the building Poison had recently descended from. He could see it's pierced his side and he couldn't help but grin victoriously as he saw it.

"What the fuck…?" Agent Alpaca let his mouth hang open as he watched the display. That shot was one in a million and where the hell had it come from?

Tiger offered Poison a hand. Party Poison took it and got off the ground. Poison had noticed something on the rocket as he saw it blast in front of him and nearly kill him along with Korse. There had been a symbol of a flame on the side of it. He had a guess who had shot it to save his life but he wasn't sure. He turned in circles trying to decipher where it'd come from.

"We have to go! We can't stay here! They're going to send reinforcements and you know the Scarecrow won't stay down for very long!" Tiger told him, grabbing his arm again. Party Poison shook him off instantly and retrieved his gun from the dirt road. "Meet up in the fourth zone at Left Behind once the dirt's settled if we get split up!"

"Fuck off!" Party Poison flipped him the middle finger but did put the information in the back of his mind. He wouldn't be sure if he wanted to find out more about their accusations until he'd had some time to think it over and with all that had happened he couldn't think about anything except for getting as far away from Korse as he could and finding the person who'd saved his life. Tiger watched him for a moment stunned until Disco tugged on his arm.

"We have to go… they'll rip us apart." She whispered. Agent Alpaca was shooting BL/ind operatives to try and make way for them. They had a very short window in which they could escape before a second team would be dispatched and the zone would be neutralized.

"We've got to go!" Tiger nodded his head and then headed with his comrades to find shelter until Better Living was convinced they'd killed all the gang members that had been in the road. The debris in the building that Korse had been blown into stirred as the Scarecrow somehow managed to pull himself up. They didn't have much time before he got himself back up and came after them with a vengeance.

Party Poison wasn't going to follow them or linger around. He needed to get away from Korse, but also find the person who'd managed to save his life. Someone had been watching him and he was going to get to the bottom of it. He wasn't sure whether he'd thank them- not until he was sure they were a friend and not another enemy.

"This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper…" Poison whispered under his breath, finishing off the poem that was repeating in his head.

"Time to go."


	7. I'll Be Your Dealer If You'll Be My

"_Run rabbit run." _The words kept repeating in his head as he ran in search of his savior and for his life. He stopped a few times to try and gauge the direction in which the rocket had come from, but he didn't stop for more than a few seconds each time. If Korse caught up with him, he'd be a dead man. He hadn't even checked if his ray gun was working. It'd taken quite the fall when Korse knocked him onto the ground and it was possible that it was completely broken.

"This couldn't get much worse." Poison panted as he ran through the alleyways between the buildings of the second zone, stopping next to the one he'd guessed his savior had been on top of to shoot from that odd angle. He walked around looking for a door, pulling out his ray gun to take a look at it to try and survey the damage done to it.

The creaking of a hinge interrupted his thoughts. Red and black hair, bright red jacket- it was exactly who he'd thought it had been that had saved him. She hadn't paid any attention to him and was walking away. She wasn't holding a gun, but it couldn't be a coincidence that she was here and the same symbol that was on the lighter had been on the rocket. He had to get her attention somehow and get to the bottom of this.

"Hey! Addict!" _Why the hell did I call her that?_ She turned and for a moment he thought she was happy to see him by the look on his face.

He was unbelievably wrong.

"You!" Her eyes widened with rage and instead of expressing concern for the way he'd been pinned by Korse earlier, or telling him how important it was for them to get out of this area as soon as possible, she lunged at him.

"Holy fuck!" His ray gun once again flew out of his hand and to the ground as the small woman landed on top of him, knocking him with more force than he had thought possible from someone so petite. "Get the fuck off of me!"

"Where is it? Where the fuck is it? Give it to me!" Poison coughed as her fist hit his already sore gut. He grabbed her wrist to stop her from delivering a second blow.

"Shit!" She twisted his arm and pinned it to the ground. Practically foaming at the mouth, this woman seemed far less alluring here in the daylight than she had that night in the bar. He mostly blamed that on the fact she was causing a pain in his arm that was nearly blurring his vision.

"Where is it?" She let go of his arm and started patting him down in search of something.

"Whoa! Whoa, hey!" Party Poison grabbed her hands to stop him and she made a move to hit his face this time. He saw the move before she made it and moved his head out of the way, forcing her hand to slam into the ground. She yelled in frustration at the pain surging up her arm but immediately moved to hit him again. He slipped his arm around her and shoved her down into the ground, pulling himself out from beneath her in one motion then stumbling hurriedly to his feet. If he could find his ray gun he could take the upper hand and try to understand what the hell was going on. There was a chance that his gun wouldn't work at all and an even greater chance she'd get up and kill him while he was searching for it in the dust that they'd kicked up. Instead of doing anything constructive he just chose to make a snide remark. "Usually I'm the one doing the groping-"

"Oh shut your perverted mouth you fucking thief!" Frenzy got to her feet, wiping the dirt off of her chest. Poison snapped his mouth shut, she was clearly not messing around with him. "If you don't hand my lighter over right now I'm going to blow your fucking brains out." She pulled her orange ray gun from its holster on her hip and aimed it at him.

"What? Are you fucking crazy?" Poison looked at her in awe. All this over the fucking lighter he'd stolen? Kobra had warned him that she'd react this way. He'd told him that he was an idiot for stealing an arsonist's lighter.

"Do you think I'm bluffing?"

Party Poison opened his mouth to respond that he in no way thought she was bluffing but out of the corner of his vision saw something coming toward them through the dust. The figure was lumbering, stumbling and walking slowly with one hand propped against the wall to keep him steady. It was Korse. _How the hell did he make it out of that blast alive?_ That's why he was the Scarecrow. He wasn't much of a human anymore at all, rather more like a shell of one. It was like the soul of the man that had once been was gone altogether and all that was left was this bloodthirsty meat puppet.

"We have to go!" He shouted at her. She looked taken aback at the very suggestion of having to leave.

"I'm not going anywhere without my lighter and if you make one move then I'm going to kill you! No more talking!"

"If you don't come with me now _he's_ going to kill us both! Then you'll never get your fucking lighter!"

"What do I care if you die? I can take care of myself! Give me my fucking lighter and you can go wherever you want!" She hissed at him.

Party Poison was in full panic mode now. His fingers ran through the messy red hair, gripping it in frustration. Die from the Scarecrow, or die from this crazy bitch in front of him. He could, of course, just give her the damn lighter, but for some reason he didn't want to part with it. He'd initially come all this way and struggled through all of this just to find her, if he gave her the lighter now he'd lose all of his leverage over her.

Not that he had a whole hell of a lot of leverage against her at this point. Why wasn't she killing him though like she was threatening? Something in her eyes told him that she was indeed as ruthless a person as she was claiming to be but she was hesitating to kill him. He couldn't explain how, he just knew that she wouldn't pull the trigger so he decided to take a risk.

"We don't have time for this! The Scarecrow will kill you too!" He ducked suddenly at the sound of laser fire. Korse had gotten close enough to shoot but was too wounded to aim properly. "Fuck! Could you at least pretend to care a little about this?"

"I told you not to fucking move!" She stepped closer to him. Poison grabbed the end of her gun and shoved it to the side. He could feel the metal of it hot as she fired off a few shots. His hand burned and he let go of the gun shaking his hand in frustration.

"You shot at me you bitch!"

"I told you I would!" She yelled, watching him and taking aim again. Poison saw Korse aiming, and at her this time. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her out of the way just in time the laser narrowly missed them both. He dodged her trying to swing at him, feeling her fist smash into his ribcage anyway. He coughed from the sudden pain but managed to pick his ray gun back off of the ground. There was no time for him to deal with the wounds he'd sustained. He aimed and tried to shoot but the gun was busted as he had thought it'd be. Back into the holster the gun went and without a second thought he grabbed the feisty and venomous young woman around the waist and practically threw her over his shoulder. "Put me down! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'm saving your ass, so shut up!" He yelled back at her and began to run. He didn't know where he'd run to or how long he could carry this woman who was beating at his back and yelling at him, but he was going to do his damndest to find them shelter and to get her to shut the hell up.

"I will not shut up! You put me down or I'll shoot you in the ass!"

"No you won't, you want your lighter too goddamn badly! Now shut up!" He wished he could clasp his hand over her mouth to get her to be quiet but couldn't at this angle. If he hid them somewhere they'd be found if she kept yelling like this at him. "If you don't shut up the Scarecrow will get us okay?"

"The Scarecrow?" Fire Frenzy looked up and could see the man limping toward them. She'd ignored his previous outcries on the subject. She'd always made it her business to never meet face to face with this man. She'd heard of his bloodlust and knew he had to be stopped. Despite her obsession with fire and her poor mental health she had always believed the best way to stop Better Living was to do it quietly and not to run in guns blazing. If she made herself a target for them they'd kill her before she even got the chance to make a difference.

That was the flaw she found in the Killjoys methodology. They made themselves known to BL/ind so instead of spending their time actually putting a stop to the organization they spent most of their time fending off the new super villains the company managed to produce. For example, the man chasing them, Korse, better known as the Scarecrow amongst the outlaws, didn't exist until the rebels rose out of the ruined zones to fight against their pharmaceutical overlords. She vaguely recalled when Korse was still human, even then he had been a general amongst wicked generals and once he'd been murdered by the Killjoys they'd impaled him on a stake and left him on the outskirts of Battery City for all to see.

Frenzy could only assume that the Killjoys had been intending to send a message to the people of the city and to Better Living itself but in her mind, it seemed to them like they had given BL/ind the idea to revive him and to make him an unstoppable force against them.

Now he was know as the Scarecrow; the menacing rejuvenated man, the first of his kind to be brought successfully from the dead and to be sent as a ruthless killer. Better Living hadn't been able to produce a second like him since. He protected Battery City like the people were his crop and eradicated Killjoys like they were ravenous crows coming to feast upon the crop he'd been assigned to protect.

"Run faster!" She hissed at the man carrying her. She wanted to kill him, she wanted to get her lighter back and her mind was still practically pulsing with the murderous urges she was somehow keeping in check without the flame to calm her but running into this Scarecrow, letting him memorize her face and add her to the list amongst the hunted, would ruin everything she'd worked so hard for. She lifted her ray gun and held it steady with both hands aiming it not at Korse himself but rather at the ground in front of him.

The dust kicked up with each shot. She knew it was pointless to shoot Korse himself, he wasn't going to die like that. She'd be naïve to think she could ever kill him so easily.

"What the hell are you doing?" Poison tried to look back to see what she was shooting at and nearly tripped, almost dropping Fire Frenzy but he managed to regain his balance. "You can't kill him! You're just pissing him off!"

"I'm blinding him you idiot, now shut up and get us out of here!" She kept firing at the ground in front of Korse until she couldn't see him through the dust and debris she'd managed to kick up. Poison knew he had precious few seconds to find shelter and even then it'd have to be good and secure because they were likely to search all the obvious hiding places in the sector.

Poison turned down an alleyway, then down another. He knew where he was now and luckily he knew a place he could hide. The Scarecrow was coming for him, like in his nightmares, and he had to escape before he could deal with this woman over his shoulder. At the very least, she wasn't hitting him anymore which was a nice reprieve and allowed him to run faster.

Poison kicked the door in on the building around the corner and fled inside. He shoved it closed but knew that it wasn't much of a hiding place. He just needed to throw Korse off of his trail so they wouldn't be found out so easily. He ran through the building, his arms secure around Fire Frenzy. He could let her down of course, but that would risk her running away even though he knew that she desperately wanted her lighter back. Or she could just kill him, that'd be much simpler. Either way, he wasn't putting her down until they were safe.

"Hurry…" Frenzy was getting impatient. She didn't like to be touched and she was not fond of the man who was doing the touching to begin with. If the Scarecrow wasn't chasing them she would've killed him already. Though he had a point earlier; if he didn't have the lighter on him right now and she killed him then she would never get it back.

"Shut the fuck up!" Poison couldn't concentrate with her talking. He had to take precise steps to get them out of there. He ran through the factory floor. No one was working there. Likely they'd all taken cover when they heard the sirens. People had grown accustomed to fearing the sound. He slipped through a side door into another alleyway. He checked the entrance to the alleyway and saw the coast was clear. He ran across the alley and into the building there at the other end. He was careful when he closed the heavy metal door, trying to make as little noise as possible.

Down in the basement of the building there was a trapdoor that led to a cellar the Killjoys used to hide in during riots. It was dark and musty and the last time he'd seen it, it had flooded but with any luck it'd be clear right now and they could wait out the attack in safety. Poison set Frenzy down in the basement and as she went to object to him he pressed his hand to her mouth.

"Don't." He didn't elaborate and pulled his hand from her lips. He searched the floor, being careful of the various pipes and rusted tools that lay on the floor. He brushed his foot over a spot that felt like it had a give in it. He saw the dirt leaking through a crack on the floor. There were many cracks like this on the floor but only this one actually had anything beneath it. An old rusted pipe lay nearby and the end seemed jagged enough to suit his purpose. With a firm grip he shoved the jagged end into the crack he'd run his fingers over and with a creak and shifting of dust about two feet of floor came swinging up and out of the way. Inside was a ladder leading down into the darkness below.

Frenzy was only mildly impressed by this hiding place. She knew that the Killjoys had multiple shelters like this all over the zones and within Battery City to allow them safety and security in situations just like this.

"Get in." He urged but she shook her head. He watched in surprise as she started shifting the dirt around the rest of the basement. _Smart girl, leave no trace of us._ After she had done that for a few moments Poison walked to her and grabbed her wrist. "Come on, no time." Without another word, but still as furious as she could manage, Frenzy followed him down into the hidden cellar. It smelled damp and musty down there as though it'd recently been flooded and as her feet touched the ground she knew her assumption had been correct.

Her shoes splashed as they touched the ground as she moved to the back corner. She pulled her ray gun up and aimed it at Poison as he climbed down into the cellar. Party Poison made sure that the secret entrance was secured and locked. Darkness encompassed them both and all he could see was black. He didn't realize that he'd left himself susceptible to her until that moment.

Out of sheer habit he reached into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the lighter he'd stolen from Fire Frenzy, forgetting that it was the reason she was harassing him in the first place. He flicked it on and searched around for the lantern that he knew was hidden down there. They always kept adequate lighting and dry food in these places in case the raids lasted more than a few hours.

"Don't fucking move." Frenzy hissed at him, stepping close to him in the dim light and holding the barrel of her gun up against his back as he was bent over lighting the lantern. He lit it anyway and flicked the lighter off as the lantern illuminated their hiding place just enough so they could see a few feet ahead of them.

"Not this again…" Poison grimaced and made to turn around but she hit him in the head with the butt end of her gun and pointed it at him again. He faced her now regardless, rubbing the spot on his head where she'd hit him. "What the fuck? You're just as bad as those assholes above ground! I should've left you up there to rot!"

"If you had made one fucking move away from me I would've killed you where you stood! Give me my fucking lighter!" She looked mad in this light and it was intimidating. Her blue eyes were blazing with the kind of rage he'd never seen in anyone before. Even the Killjoys who had attacked him in the zones hadn't had that kind of anger reserved for him. Even Korse didn't show rage of any kind, his eyes were more the soulless evil that scared the shit out of him. _So much for getting laid at the end of this_. He slumped his shoulders in defeat as he held out his arms to show her he wasn't reaching for a weapon.

"Look, fine! I'll give you the lighter but you've got to calm," he swallowed hard as she pointed the barrel between his eyes, "down…"

"Give me my fucking lighter." She narrowed her eyes at him and tightened her trigger finger. She had been momentarily impressed with his cunning in saving them from the Scarecrow, but had been reminded he'd stolen from her and tried to deceive her as he had slipped her precious trinket from her possession. Her mind was reeling. _Just shoot him, even if he gives it back to you he's a liar and a dealer._ She blinked her eyes to try to get the thoughts to quit racing. "Will you be quiet?" She hissed. Party Poison looked around in search of what could be the source of what she was telling to shut up.

"…I didn't say anything." He said after a moment. _Holy fuck, this girl's out of her mind._

"Shut up!" Her hand wobbled as she stepped closer to him with the gun. "Give me my lighter! Give it to me now! I'll blow off your goddamn head if you don't give me my lighter right now!"

"Hey,"

"Stop talking and give me my fucking lighter" Her eyes were wide and mad and in that instant Poison relented and held the lighter out to her after pulling it from his pocket once more. Fire Frenzy grabbed the lighter from his hand and held it close to her chest. The ache inside of her stopped and her heart beat normally for what felt like the first time in hours. She turned away from him, her rage having subsided with the possession of her lighter.

Flick, flick, flick - Party Poison could smell the metal grinding together to cause the spark of the lighter like he'd done so many times. He stood with his mouth agape as he watched this woman coddle the lighter like it was a long lost love. Why the hell was she giving it that kind of attention? Maybe Kobra had been right, perhaps it was stupid to mess with an arsonist. And yet, he wanted her attention. He wanted to get what he felt he deserved from this situation. Here she was making this huge deal over him stealing her lighter when she'd, in fact, intended to steal from him that whole night. She had conned him from the moment he had sat down. Though to be fair, she had given him the brush off and told him to get lost.

"Why the hell did you save my life?" The words slipped out of his mouth before he had realized it.

"What?" Fire Frenzy had forgotten someone else was in the room at all. Now that she had her lighter back she'd stopped shaking and her mind wasn't so bent on destruction. She slipped the metallic object back in her pocket but didn't pull her hand away. She wanted to just feel it for a little while. It didn't feel as heavy as it had been when she'd held it last, he had to have used it a lot. She'd have to refill it when she got back to her home.

"You saved me from Korse. I saw the rocket, it had the same symbol on it that's on your lighter." She still looked puzzled. He felt exhausted trying to understand this woman. "Why did you save me if you hate me so goddamn much? You saved me to try to kill me? That doesn't make sense."

"I didn't save you." Frenzy gave him a confused look and shrugged her shoulders.

"Yes you did, Korse was going to blow my fucking brains in and you shot him all to hell. Great shot too."

"Oh. I wasn't saving you. I was saving my lighter." Frenzy answered simply and started to survey their surroundings. There wasn't much down there; just a few old crates that were filled with what she assumed were supplies. Party Poison didn't respond. This girl was really out of her mind. But she was a good shot, if nothing else. And she hadn't killed him despite the fact that she had waved a gun in his face for most of their time together. Plus, she'd given him pretty honest and decent advice the night before. _That bitch stole from me…_ It was like an epiphany. He grabbed her arm once more to stop her from wandering around the cellar.

"You took my fucking pills!" Frenzy smiled as he pointed that out, but didn't respond. There was no way she was going to give them back to him. He'd stolen the good stuff and she had nearly been out of it anyway. Now that she had her lighter back this whole situation seemed comical.

"So?"

"You're a fucking hypocrite!" Party Poison managed to resist raising his voice but was still angry enough to shove her. Instead of following his instincts he tightened his grip on her arm. "You chased me down for stealing a damn lighter from you when you stole my entire stash!"

"Oh it's not the same and you know it."

"How is it not the same? Not to mention you gave me this whole fucking speech about how you wouldn't sleep with addicts or dealers and then you steal my pills? You're the fucking addict here and you're criticizing me for being a dealer?"

"Back off!" Frenzy shoved at him. "First of all, dealer, I stole something that didn't belong to you in the first place. You stole something very near and dear to me that I've had for years! How are these things remotely close? I owe you nothing and you'll receive nothing from me. You're just lucky I didn't kill you." She twisted her arm from his grip and continued on her rant. "You're nothing more than a peddler of candy to children and I'm far too old to play a child's game. And I'm _not_ a hypocrite… You're twisting my words. I told you that I don't sleep with addicts or dealers and I stand by that. I don't."

Party Poison couldn't believe she was justifying being an addict, a thief, and a hypocrite all at once. There were no words to describe how irritated he was with this woman. Though, it was nagging at him, she'd been cunning enough to create a lie that wasn't really a lie. She was right. She had only told him that she wouldn't sleep with addicts and that's why she hadn't wanted any of his flirting. But she'd also kissed him. Or had he kissed her? He didn't remember at this point, but he also felt that it didn't matter.

"You kissed me." He argued. "You kissed me after you told me you had no interest."

"That's what you're upset about?" Frenzy actually laughed, walking to the opposite end of the hidden cellar. She leaned against the cool damp wall, not caring if she got herself dirty. Nothing bothered her now that she had her lighter back. It was a better high than the pills she took. Poison felt his face turn red. She had used him, like he had used all the women he'd met at parties before Frenzy. This didn't make him feel guilty but he felt embarrassed. He leaned against the opposite wall, folding his arms across his chest. He watched her from afar, waiting for her to make some kind of contact with him again. She was pacing and playing with the lighter in her pocket, he could tell.

"Fucking addict…" He muttered under his breath.

"Look. One of us should leave. Obviously you don't want me around and I don't really want you around either. I don't have patience for someone who used to be an addict." Party Poison was left speechless once again.

"How… how'd you…?"

"Come on, only people who know what it does to them would be as irritated with me as you are. I can see the hatred you have for it. I'll go."

"Thanks." Poison spat out. It wasn't what he'd intended to say but he had to keep her around. _Why? Why the hell should she stay? She's done nothing but piss me off since we met!_ And yet, there was something about her that intrigued him. She'd pushed him since they started talking and he wanted to get the best of her. _At least I think that's what I want._

"For what? Not killing you? For volunteering to leave?"

"You may have been saving your lighter but you also saved me."

"Don't thank me for that. I don't want your gratitude."

"Will you just take the damn gratitude? God you're so fucking stubborn."

"And this is why I'm trying to leave."

"I need your help."

"Oh come on."

"Hear me out. My friends told me to meet them at this bar in the fourth zone… Do you know where it is?"

"It's the last bar in the zones." Frenzy shrugged her shoulders, knowing exactly where it was, but still not wanting to help him with anything. It was best for her to get away from him. He was a con and nothing but trouble. He could be trying to find a way to take her lighter again. He'd seemed to really enjoy it, judging by how much it had been used since the night before.

"I need you to take me there."

"What am I? A chauffer?"

"No, it's not like that." Party Poison had initially intended on breaking into the west faction of Killjoys to talk to some of Tiger Beatdown's men to see what was really going on but now that he'd thought about it with a clear head the idea seemed stupid and suicidal. If Tiger was truly the villain behind the attack on him then his men really did believe that he was the evil man and he'd likely be shot on sight. There was a slim chance that Disco hadn't turned on him and perhaps was even telling the truth. Someone lied to him about Tiger Beatdown having turned on the cause and maybe that same someone had lied to Tiger about him doing the same. It couldn't have been Kobra who had turned on him, it wasn't possible. Kobra Kid was his younger brother and the two were too close for such a thing to come between them.

Kobra had said that Death-iNation had been the one to send him the information but how would he check without going to Battery City? Death-iNation was one of the sleeper cells they had working and living in Battery City in one of the less malevolent chapters of Better Living. He had sent information every week for the last year and Party Poison trusted him with his life. Could it have been possible he was being played after all this time? He didn't think it was likely which meant that someone was twisting him and his friends. He could have been wrong with this idea of what was going on but something Disco Bitch had said twisted a nerve.

"Then what's it like? Look I don't want to help you with anything. I want to get as far as humanly possible from you okay?"

"Why? What did I do besides try to seduce you and steal your lighter? And I'm still thinking you didn't hate the first half of that." Party Poison stepped away from the wall, watching her curiously. His confidence was coming back finally. He'd taken a blow to his ego that he hadn't felt in a long time.

"No, because you're a thief, a fucking liar and you're way too horny to get anything done with a member of the opposite sex outside of the obvious and seeing as I don't sleep with dealers, it seems stupid for me to help you."

"I'm not a thief! I'm not a fucking thief and I'm certainly not a fucking liar! Listen, we all have our flaws right? I like to take things from the girls I fuck, because it makes me feel good. Usually it's something benign like a lighter or a pen that was in their pocket… I had no idea you were a nutcase or an addict when I came after you. All I saw was ass and boobs and I went for it okay? I know better now. Clearly." Poison pointed at the bump on his head from where she'd hit him with the gun not too long ago.

"This isn't helping your case." Fire Frenzy looked bemused by the entire argument. Did he think she was stupid? Well he was wrong. "I'm leaving now."

"I'll pay you."

"I'm an addict but I'm not desperate."

"Not for that… to get me to the bar."

"Why should I help you? All you've done since we've gotten here has called me an addict and a lunatic."

"Well all you've done is try to kill me, several times I might add, and call me a peddler and a horny idiot."

"That's because you are a peddler and a horny… I don't know if you're an idiot but…" She drifted into silence after a moment.

"Remember that story I told you in the bar?"

"I do. That was during the brief moment of time I might have found you interesting."

"It was true. That part of it was all true. I'm the leader of the eastern faction of Killjoys. My name is Party Poison and last night I received word that the leader of the west faction turned on the cause. I did what you suggested. I sent an assassin to take him out… but now… those people you saved me with on the ground out there? That was them. It seems that my assassin thinks that the man I told her to kill is innocent and someone's duping us both." She merely stared at him, watching him curiously. It was hard to tell if he was lying. He had such a sincere and commanding look to his face all the time that he could've been spinning lies right there and she'd have no idea. "Those Killjoys were told I was the one who turned traitor. I didn't. I had no idea what they were talking about. I need your help. I can't go out in the zones on my own without a weapon now. Mine broke when you knocked me down. You're an arms dealer right? I need your help." He nervously wiped his cheek and pushed his red hair back and out of his face. It fell right back into place of course, but it was a nervous tic he'd been performing all his life.

"We'll need weapons." Frenzy said after a moment, not looking back up at him. "The Dracs will patrol for twelve hours before going back to their posts in Battery City. The Scarecrow never sleeps and he seems to have a hard on for you so… we'll have to keep our eye out for him too."

"Thank you…" Taking a deep breath he leaned his head back against the wall near the ladder leading out of the cellar. It was then he realized he didn't know her name. It was possible Kobra had told him what it was before he'd left but he'd just been bent on the idea of finding her and it had slipped his mind. "Hey, what's your name? You know mine, it's only fair."

"Fire Frenzy."

"No, I meant your real name. Not your Killjoy name. You know the one you were born with. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." His cocky attitude was back. He'd succeeded in keeping this woman nearby, it was a high of sorts. He still had time to find a way to get his revenge.

"I'm not a Killjoy. I never was and I don't want to be. I'm an arm's dealer and you already know that. You said it earlier." Party Poison went to object to her avoiding the question but she continued on. "We should wait for the sun to go down, so we don't stick out so much. It gives time for the Dracs to finish their patrol too."

"Yeah, I'm not too eager to get back out there right now anyway. You know, seeing as I've had… a ridiculous amount of people try to kill me today."

"Let me see your gun." She held out her hand expectantly.

"Well, if you insist." He couldn't help but grin and reach for his belt.

"I'll kill you, you know. I'm still irritated you stole my lighter. Don't mistake my calm for mercy."

"You're no fun." He pulled the yellow ray gun out of its holster and it sparked. It fell from his hand and he hopped around in frustration, shaking his hand out from the feeling of how the sparks had burnt his fingers, right through his glove. "Son-of-a-bitch!" Fire Frenzy bent down and picked up the fallen weapon.

"Well, it's broken."

"Thanks Columbo, didn't take a fucking arm's specialist to realize that did it?" He slipped his thumb into his mouth to nurse the painful burn on it.

"Oh suck it up, you baby."

"Fuck you Fire Frenzy. Fix the damn thing."

"I could just leave you here without a gun, Party Poison. I'd be a little bit nicer."

"Yeah well, life's a bitch isn't it? I don't get to grab your ass so you don't get to see the polite side of me. I think you'll manage."

"Hmph, you're such a charmer. It's a wonder why women fall for you." She muttered. "It's too fucking dark…" She looked down at the gun and slipped her fingers into her pocket, pulling out a thin piece of metal from within. She unscrewed the handle of the gun and looked down at the torn wires.

Party Poison watched her curiously and picked up the lantern. He held it close to her and leaned over her shoulder to watch her work. _For someone with no social skills she smells nice_. For some reason he'd gotten this image in his head that she didn't shower properly now with what a psychopath she had turned out to be.

"I can't fix this here." She turned to show him, not realizing he was so close. He hadn't anticipated she'd turn either but he could see her cheeks turn pink under the lamplight. She turned away and took a step from him so she didn't have to be so close. A smile crept over his lips, turning quickly into a shit-eating grin. "I need some tools to fix this. The wiring is fried. That's why it shorted out on your hand."

"Alright, so it can wait. You're just going to have to protect me." Party Poison walked back to her and took the gun from her hand, lingering there. "You know… we have some time…"

"Don't finish that thought."

"Oh admit, you like me."

"You have no idea how to read a person do you?"

"I think I'm reading you pretty clearly."

"I liked you better when you were afraid to talk to me."

"Sorry, doll."

"Again, you are unarmed and making very stupid mistakes." Fire Frenzy hated that he was getting to her like this. She wasn't handling it very well at all. She retrieved her lighter and turned away from him, flicking it again. The fingers of her opposite hand brushed through the flame unharmed. It was such a rush to touch the fire like this and it calmed the nerves that had been on edge since he'd gotten nearer to her again.

He watched her and for the first time since he'd realized she was a bit off kilter he felt bad for her. What the hell had happened to make her this way? Addicted to those awful pills and clinging to a piece of metal filled with fuel for comfort- that was no way to live. He'd back off for the time being.

Minutes turned into hours and they spoke on and off. She was actually pretty interesting even though she was vague in most of her answers about her personal life she was good conversation on other topics. Poison found they had a lot in common, even if Fire Frenzy didn't seem to think so. She was still being short with him. She'd started building up a wall between them, he recognized it immediately. He'd have to take it for what it was, there was nothing else he could really do about it.

"The sun should be long gone." Fire Frenzy headed up the ladder to the cellar. Poison watched her go with a content grin on his face. The next few days would be trying, he knew it was likely the Killjoys would disband, he knew it was likely that he'd die, but he still managed to smile.

"Yeah, now is as good a time as any. You'll have to cover me. I don't have any weapon now. Whatever happened to the rocket launcher you used?"

"I left it on the roof. It's stupid to carry something so big when planning an attack."

"Seems like a waste of a perfectly good gun."

"To you. I build them and then sell them. They're nothing more than currency to me. Plus I just like building things." They continued to talk as they headed through the building. All seemed quiet. There was no sign of the Dracs patrolling the streets and no sign of the Scarecrow.

"It's like something scared them off." Poison muttered as they walked. The walk was long but neither one of them had transportation to Zone Four. Her bunker was close enough to the bar that Frenzy planned on letting them walk there too rather than taking her motorcycle. She wasn't going to give this guy any excuses to touch her. She had decided to treat him like something dirty she didn't want getting on her. As fun as it could be to play with him, she didn't have time to mess around like that. There was too much for her to accomplish, she couldn't let a man get in the way just because he amused her.

"You live here?" Poison looked around at the bunker half buried in the dirt.

"Yeah."

"Doesn't look very inviting."

"I only sleep and work here. It's a means to an end."

"I'm the same way. My home's pretty unused."

"You talk too much."

"Holy shit…" Party Poison froze in the doorway of her home. The walls were practically lined with weapons she'd completed, schematics for new ones, and the shelves all around had supplies stacked on top of them. There was a work bench in the corner nearly covered in tools and a small cot that was also covered completely in supplies. It didn't seem like she slept much at all.

Fire Frenzy ignored his reaction and sat down at her work bench. Poison just stared open mouthed at the walls as he walked over to her. He set his gun down in front of her and just kept staring.

"I think I'm in love…" He joked, walking around to inspect the room. It was small and uncomfortable, but he assumed that she found enough comfort in her lighter so she didn't require it elsewhere.

"Don't touch anything." She remained hunched over the poorly put together table, pulling wires out from his gun. She had to rewire the whole thing. It wouldn't take very long since she'd done it so many times before, but it was still something she had to concentrate on.

"Oh come on, that's like putting food in front of me and telling me not to eat it."

"I don't really care. Don't touch anything."

"Yes, mother." Poison rolled his eyes but kept walking around. "I've got my hands in my pockets, don't you worry."

"Just don't touch anything!" She snapped at him. Her hands were starting to shake. She'd been out longer than she expected. She'd have to take another dose of pills before they went back out. Her vision was blurred. The burning of her eyes felt like a relief as she closed them and then she continued on her work, listening to the sounds Party Poison was making behind her.

"Someone's cranky…" Poison said in a sing song voice but he was more curious with what was hidden behind these boxes now. He could see something along the wall and it was more cluttered here than it was anywhere else in the small room. It was like she'd gone out of her way to purposely bury this area. Upon further inspection he could see that despite it looking cluttered it was pretty simple to maneuver the boxes and shelves out of the way so he could get to whatever was hidden back there.

Frenzy was still working, he could maybe get to what he suspected was a door if he moved quietly and quickly enough. He had to try. One by one he slid the boxes across the floor, periodically checking to see if Fire Frenzy had caught him in the act. She hadn't. She remained hunching over the gun, engrossed in her work.

The shelves had been harder to move quietly and he'd nearly fallen over trying to move one but he'd managed to do it silently. He got cockier as he continued on and moved faster, checking on the woman who'd built such beautiful weapons less and less.

It was a door as he had suspected. A big heavy steel door nearly completely hidden by all of the things he'd just removed. He let his fingers trace the seam of the door against the wall. She'd clearly built this whole place. His fingers traveled down the length of the door to the handle.

"I told you not to touch anything." Her voice was cold and he could feel the metal of a gun in the back of his neck. "You're smarter than you let on but I swear to you if you turn that doorknob, your brains will be the newest decoration for my wall." He didn't doubt for a second that she was serious. He lifted his hand from the handle, and though his curiosity had piqued even higher now that he knew she was reacting like this, he had to let go. At least for now.

"I'm backing off." He spoke very calmly as he tried to reassure her. Turning to face her he could see how angry she was. What the hell was she hiding in there? "I'm sorry."

"I fixed your gun." She seemed distant now, even more so than she had been before. He could see the beads of sweat on her forehead and knew partially what her problem was.

"This I see." She still had it pointed at him. He took a risk and grabbed the barrel, pulling it slowly from her grasp. His heart was racing as he watched her. She seemed different now, darker than before. Whatever secrets she was hiding, they scared her. "Thank you. You're an artist you know."

"You're welcome. Pick a second gun and I'll give you a knife. Then we're heading out." She began to put the boxes and shelves back in their place. He made a move to help her but she shot him a look that told him if he did she'd cause him some kind of harm.

"I want something longer range, more accurate than my handgun." He folded his arms. It was an honor to be receiving any one of these guns. "No wonder Kobra comes to you for weapons, these are amazing."

"Here, take this one." Frenzy pulled one off of the wall nearest the door and handed it to him. "Long range, scope, and about eighty-eight percent accuracy for a steady hand. When it overheats though it needs awhile to cool down so don't just go crazy with it. Short bursts, short breaks." She held it up and peered through the scope, then checked it over to make sure it was in working order before letting him take it from her hands. Party Poison practically drooled over the weapon and touched the detailing on it with his callused fingers.

"Here's a knife, strap it to your leg, I suggest letting it hide in your boot. Of course you should keep the …uh sheath on or you'll maim yourself." Frenzy handed it to him, without looking up at him. She had no patience for this anymore. It was like she was suffocating even though there was plenty of air in the room. He'd nearly found her hiding place, the things she hid from the world and she'd let her guard down enough to let it happen.

She hid her knife in the lining of her holster for her gun which she put back in its place after making sure it hadn't been damaged. Her back was purposely turned toward Party Poison so he couldn't see what she was doing as she dug for her pills in the drawer she'd built beneath the table.

Poison could feel that she didn't want him watching her but he did anyway. He balanced on one foot so he could tilt himself to see what she was doing. His heart sunk when he saw the pills that she'd stolen from him the night before. If he hadn't stolen them she wouldn't be taking them. He was kidding himself with that thought; she would've found some elsewhere to get them if he she hadn't gotten them from him.

"You don't need these." He grabbed he wrist before she could pop them into her mouth. He wondered how long it had been since she'd taken her last dose. Just twelve hours without them would cause withdrawal to set in. She'd been showing worsening symptoms for hours but she carried herself well regardless.

"I can't afford to be off of them." Frenzy said after a moment, avoiding eye contact with him. Party Poison held her wrist to keep her from taking them for a moment. She was right. If he didn't let her take them right now she'd be useless to him. It'd cripple her for weeks and he didn't have that kind of time to wait and neither did she. He let go of her wrist and walked out of the bunker. He hated himself for letting her take the pills, but he had no other choice. If nothing else he wasn't going to watch her drug herself.

"Come on. Before the sun is up." Frenzy joined him a moment later, looking rejuvenated. "The bar isn't very far from here and Harvey will let me in at any hour."

"Harvey?"

"He owns the bar. He let me know where to find you."

"Bastard." Poison chuckled, trying to break the tension that had formed between them but he felt as if nothing could at this point.

"Shut up and get walking." Frenzy headed off without him. Party Poison watched her walk away for a moment then hurried to catch up. With any luck, he would hopefully be getting some insight to what was happening amongst the Killjoys soon.


	8. Traitors and Fate

Agent Alpaca ran ahead of Tiger Beatdown and Disco Bitch to make sure the way was clear of any who would harm them. He held his laser gun pointed toward the ground and led the way through the third zone. They could still hear the sounds of gunfire and chaos happening in the second zone behind them. The people who lived in the third zone had taken cover when the sirens had gone off; it was too much of a risk to stay out when so much was happening. The Dracs sent from Battery City didn't care if they were Killjoys, they didn't even care if they hadn't done anything wrong. If you got in the way during a raid, the Dracs would either shoot to kill or drag them away for reconditioning.

Disco Bitch covered them from behind, walking backwards, but turning every so often to check her footing. Tiger Beatdown was glancing between them both, making sure Disco Bitch didn't fall over with how she ran and making sure that Agent Alpaca wasn't leading them somewhere where they'd be in more danger. Sometimes it was easy to get turned around when the buildings were this close together. He didn't want them to end up back in the line of fire, especially with the Scarecrow running around.

Things grew silent all around them as they got further and further from the chaos. Korse hadn't been interested in them so that had helped with their escape. Tiger Beatdown was worrying if Party Poison had made it out of there alright, but the man had made his own decision to run off on his own. There was nothing he could do but hope that the skills he had back when they had worked together had only enhanced over the years, that Poison hadn't started to slack with his training as head of the eastern faction of Killjoys.

"This is your fault!" Agent Alpaca stopped walking and looked around, making sure the area was deserted before he rose his voice. He pointed an accusing finger at the man he'd blindly followed into the second zone. They had been friends for longer than he could recall, but this was not the first time that Tiger Beatdown's trusting nature had gotten them into some serious trouble.

"Oh, how is that?" Tiger was as calm as he could be, hunching over to catch his breath, his laser gun still in his hand. It didn't matter how in shape he was, running that far and that long would exhaust anyone.

"I had him! I had him pinned to the fucking ground with my gun and I would've killed him or gotten information from him if you hadn't interfered!" Alpaca was ranting angrily now, since he knew he had never actually had Party Poison pinned for more than a moment. He was growing tired of the games that were being played here. In his experience the obvious answer was almost always the right answer, searching any further would lead to disaster. "You're looking for conspiracies that aren't there! Why can't you just accept that Party Poison has turned traitor? It's not that hard of a concept to grasp! Those Killjoys were clearly under his control, they were going to kill us and they would've if the sirens hadn't gone off! And how do you think Better Living became alerted to the chaos happening there anyway? Poison must have notified them when he ran into me and realized he was in over his head!"

"Hey, back off! Party Poison is on the straight and narrow! He had some problems in the past with drugs… but he's been an amazing leader, regardless. He's never let any of that interfere with the cause and there's no way he'd go turncoat-"

"I wasn't talking to you!" Agent Alpaca cut Disco Bitch off in her defense of her leader. "I don't want to talk to you anyway, you work for him. As far as I'm concerned you're just as guilty as your boss is!"

"I work for the Killjoys, not for Party Poison!" Disco's face was turning red with frustration. Why did Tiger Beatdown trust this guy? He was clearly too hot headed to be on this mission, or any mission of any kind. She wanted to put him in his place. He had no right to go accusing people he had never met. This was all a mess, they were supposed to be on the same side and now every glance was laced with suspicion.

"Clearly the man is a lunatic." Agent Alpaca pled to his friend now, the anger lessening after having finally gotten to tell Disco Bitch what he thought of her. He wanted them to save what was left of their cause. He wanted them to be able to go back to the western faction, regroup, and try to save what they had all worked so hard over the years to create.

"What makes you say that?" Tiger asked, still feeling calm in the situation. He knew what had to be done. He wasn't willing to give up on the man he'd served with for so long against the cause. Agent Alpaca had good intentions, but he was too quick to break the bonds of trust amongst the Killjoys. He was grateful for this attribute at times, but right now was not one of those times. What was the point of starting a revolution if you couldn't trust the people who stood by you?

"Did you hear him ranting? The way he was talking about his own men? He was even insane enough to think that his own assassin he sent after you went turncoat! That's lunacy!"

"You idiot, of course he thinks I turned on him! I was with you guys and Tiger was clearly alive when he sent me on a mission to kill him! How thick can you be?" Disco couldn't hold back her rage anymore. The things that Alpaca was accusing her off, accusing her trusted friend of, it was all rubbing her the wrong way.

"How thick can _you_ be? How stupid do you think _we_ are? Tiger may believe you because you've got pretty blue eyes, but I'm not an idiot and I'm not falling for your tricks!" Agent Alpaca spat back at her in anger.

That was enough, Disco couldn't contain herself any longer. She clenched her fist and made to punch Agent Alpaca in the face. Tiger Beatdown grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back and out of his friend's reach.

"Let me go! Let me go! I'll teach you to make assumptions about people you ass! You're as bad as the Dracs! You don't even bother getting to know people before you judge them! Let me go Tiger, I swear that I'll kick you if I have to!" Disco yelled, her eyes filled with rage. She kept her hands clenched into fists to keep them from visibly trembling with the rage she felt for this man right now. How were they ever going to get to the bottom of what was really happening when every time they found a lead, Agent Alpaca was just going to jump back to how she had been sent to kill Tiger Beatdown? "I'm not a zombie! I have my own mind! I saw Tiger wasn't what Poison claimed he was and made a decision! I hope you would've done the same if the tables were turned!"

"Calm down Disco, it's not worth it!" Tiger spoke soothingly. He didn't want these two getting into physical conflict. He had to know that they could work together or they'd never be able to make any progress. They had to put aside their differences and work for their cause. "I get it! I do! I know why you're angry with him but try to see this from his point of view! You came to kill me! Party Poison just tried very hard to kill him and he said a lot of things that aren't exactly lining up with what we thought we knew! Calm yourself! He's speaking harshly out of anger, just as you are!" He felt her calm down in his arms and let her go once he was sure that she wasn't going to lunge at Agent Alpaca the moment he did. Disco took a deep breath and turned so she didn't have to look at the man who had so enraged her. She needed a moment to calm down or she might go after him again.

"Fine! Fine…" A heavy sigh relieved the tightness in her chest. It had taken a few moments for her to stop seeing red. "We were all there today Alpaca. We all saw what happened. You may have run into Party Poison at the wrong time but he was defending himself. The traitor to our cause was not among us today… but I can understand why you don't trust me and why you don't trust him. But if I'm going to understand the things you're seeing, then you have to try and understand it from my point of view as well. It's only fair." Disco had to calm herself down. It was time to start taking what this man said with a grain of salt. Of course he wasn't going to trust her. It was sheer luck that Tiger Beatdown had seen what was going on for what it really was. If it had been Party Poison on the receiving end she knew he wouldn't have hesitated to kill an assassin sent for him.

If she hadn't been the one sent to him, then they would've never discovered the treason amongst them. For that she was grateful things had happened the way that they did. Tiger Beatdown was a merciful opposite of Party Poison and if he hadn't been, it would've been the end of the Killjoys and the end of her. She wondered partially if there was any credence to what Agent Alpaca had claimed. Did Tiger Beatdown trust her because of some kind of attraction, or was it that he really believed her story? She hoped it was the latter even though part of her wanted the prior to be true as well.

"You're wrong about a few things Alpaca." Tiger Beatdown continued on. Both his friends seemed to have calmed down a bit now that they had gotten the yelling out of their systems.

"Hmm?" Alpaca made a noise of irritation and curiosity. He didn't want to hear that he was wrong, but he also didn't want to ignore the facts and be made a fool of.

"The Killjoys weren't there on Poison's command. They were there to kill him. Couldn't you see he was a target? They clearly wanted to cause him some harm. They weren't there for us, and they weren't there for the Dracs. They were there for him."

"How do you figure?"

"They were yelling for him! And when Korse finally came with his men, they were blaming Party Poison as much as you were. You were too busy being angry to notice, but I did."

"But we let him know we were going to meet him there. We practically walked into a trap! How do you know it wasn't just another ploy to try to fool us?"

"Why would he try to fool us when we were outnumbered? If the Killjoys had been there under his command, we would be dead."

"He didn't know we were coming." Disco chimed in. She had forgotten all about the messenger they sent to the east the night before. Party Poison was supposed to go to the second zone to meet them, but he seemed to have no idea about it. "We sent someone to tell him to meet us but when I brought it up he had no idea. He even said he thought I had died, he called me a traitor. If he had received the message we sent, he wouldn't be saying that at all. Whatever message we sent for him must have been intercepted."

"Why was he in the second zone then? That can't just be a coincidence." Agent Alpaca turned these thoughts around in his mind. He hated to admit it, but the woman was right about that. Party Poison was shocked to see them there and now that he thought about it, the Killjoys didn't seem to be helping Poison at all. In fact, Poison had come from the roof as though he were trying to get away unnoticed. There was a slim chance that it hadn't been a trap sent for them and he had to explore the possibility to be fair. He didn't want to be like the Dracs, as Disco Bitch had accused him of.

"He said he'd been meeting someone… or looking for someone. It was something like that. He became angry and didn't finish saying why he was there. He just said he had no idea what we were talking about." Disco felt that this bit of evidence was the final proof that she needed to trust that someone in the east was clearly behind the treachery that was happening amongst the Killjoys.

"Someone is fooling all of us, including Party Poison. He's as much of a victim in this as the rest of us are."

"What about the Dracs? Why would they know we were rioting? Sure, there were some fires, but nothing that warranted their attention."

"Clearly the same person who sent the Killjoys after Party Poison alerted the forces in Better Living. It's not that hard to put together." Tiger was becoming less patient with his friend's objections. "I know you want to make sure we explore every avenue of this but I trust Disco Bitch's judgment on the matter. I trust that Party Poison had no idea we were there to meet him and you sent that messenger yourself. You know he should've known… unless it had been intercepted." Agent Alpaca went to open his mouth to object once more. "That's the end of it. It's not a discussion anymore. Between her judgment and my prior friendship with Poison, I don't think he's a traitor. He's still a good man until proven otherwise."

"You're making a foolish mistake…" Agent Alpaca drifted off as he heard something in the distance. Voices were approaching them, coming closer. They didn't seem friendly.

"We need to take cover." Disco whispered. Their arguments seemed petty. They could've given themselves away to rebel forces, or to the Dracs who were likely still patrolling in the dying sunlight with all the yelling that they had done.

"Over here, there's a ladder on the back of this building. We can hide behind the market sign." Tiger jogged over to the building across the dirt road. It was a worn looking food dispersion center. There were others like them all around the zone and they served the sole purpose of feeding those who lived in the zones. People who came to them required a pass given out by Better Living to receive food. Luckily a few Killjoys were working on the inside and would help those who couldn't manage a pass. Tiger kept a look out as Agent Alpaca climbed up onto the roof. It would provide them a lookout point to see who was coming for them. Disco Bitch followed reluctantly onto the roof, followed by Tiger himself. Disco wasn't sure they should just start running from Killjoys. Tiger Beatdown saw her distress and whispered, with a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We shouldn't trust anyone until we're sure what's going on. We could be easily deceived by the wrong people. Right now we just need to lay low." Disco nodded to let him know she understood. It felt weird avoiding the very people she'd always been told were the ones to trust.

They hid behind the sign with the name of the store on it along with various pictures of food and watched. The sun was setting and darkness was starting to encompass them, so they wouldn't be easily seen there in the shadows of the sign. They watched as a group of wounded and bloody Killjoys headed toward them, guns drawn out and pointed in every which way. Despite their militant stance, they were speaking loudly about the situation that had just taken place.

"Did you see that fucking Drac bleed? Begged for mercy but I know better than to believe that bullshit. Those assholes don't have a soul." One of the women spat on the ground. She had a nasty looking wound on her shoulder but held her gun upright anyway. Tiger made a face of distress. They'd always fought against the Dracs, but he'd never been cruel to them. Who were these Killjoys? Who taught them to be this way?

"Did you see Party Poison run away? Did you see the look of panic on his face?"

"What a fucking pussy."

"Don't betray the Killjoys if you're not ready to take a bullet!"

"Damn right!" Disco was fuming once more. This wasn't the way things were done. Alpaca seemed just as angry. Even though he didn't think that Party Poison was on their side, there was just a code of honor that was unspoken amongst the Killjoys and these assholes were breaking it right now, just with the way they were talking.

A laser went off and Tiger stood, hunched over to get a better look at what they'd shot. A coyote that had been rummaging for food was lying on its side. It could've been a starving dog as well but from his vantage point it was hard to tell. The domestic animals were a dying breed, coyotes were nearly unheard of. To kill it like that, without any remorse, was an abomination.

"Dicks…" Disco whispered. She was peering from beneath Tiger's arm where he was leaning against the sign. It was hard to see what was going on, but they all got the basic idea of what was happening below.

"Fucking mutt!" One of the Killjoys spat on the body of the dog and kicked it in the stomach. It made no sounds, just a sick thud of meat hitting the ground. Agent Alpaca had turned away completely. This display was sickening and was changing everyone's opinion on the roof pretty quickly of the situation at hand.

"Oh come on, leave it alone." One of the others said from below. Maybe one of them had a heart and saw what they were doing wrong. "You're going to get us caught you ass. Leave the piece of shit in the dirt, we'll blame it on the Dracs."

The Killjoys started on their way, moving more quietly through the streets. They were obviously looking for stragglers. Likely they were supposed to be searching for Party Poison but instead they had decided to play with any Dracs that were on patrol, like this was some sick game. The silence was thick and tense on the rooftop. They couldn't bring themselves to look at each other. The sick display that had gone on before them had shaken them to the core. There was so much they could say, and so much they could discuss but none of them had the heart. It was clear that they were all thinking the same thing.

The disgusting display they'd just witnessed had been the only thing they'd all agreed on since they'd met the day before. Was this some kind of bond that was forming between the now? Disco was sure if she brought that up to any of them, Alpaca would surely laugh in her face. Regardless, she could feel that there really was something strengthening. They all wanted the same thing, it was just going to take them time to realize it and even longer to admit it.

"I know I said a lot of things." Alpaca turned back to face them after he was sure the Killjoys were out of earshot, as long as he spoke quietly. He didn't look any of them in the eye. He didn't want to see what they were thinking. "I don't agree with what you guys think is happening here, but we're still Killjoys. I still believe in what we do and what we fight for so I'll come with you in whatever you decide to do." He looked at his best friend and confidant Tiger Beatdown this time. He didn't trust Disco Bitch and didn't want her to think that he did, so he spoke to his friend which was just easier for him.

"Besides, if you happen to be wrong about your assumptions with Party Poison then someone is going to have to be there to save you both. Someone who isn't quite as convinced about his innocence as you are."

"And who would be there to rub it in our faces if you didn't come?" Tiger added, knowing that his friend partially wanted the right to be able to tell them that he told them so. He was relieved to hear his friend wasn't going to give up on him. All of the fighting and yelling earlier had shaken him more than he had thought. It was hard to fight for so long and then take a break. Hiding here on this rooftop as the sun sank completely beneath the sign had given him time to think about that.

"Well yes… that too is important to me." Agent Alpaca smiled for the first time since yesterday when Tiger had first gotten back from his mission in the desert. It felt good to smile again. He even chuckled a little at the weight being lifted from his shoulders. The road ahead of them was long and arduous but it would be worth it if Tiger Beatdown was right. He was hoping that his friend was. It would be terrible to lose an entire faction of the Killjoys.

From what Disco could see as the Killjoys below disappeared from view, they'd already lost the cause. How could Agent Alpaca be laughing? How could Tiger Beatdown be joking with him when their comrades in arms were turning into monsters all around them? Where had the cause gone? Where had the loyalty and morality gone? They were all a bunch of animals now, and they deserved to be lower on the food chain than they were. The body of the dead dog on the road haunted her. She got up silently and headed down the ladder.

The two men watched her. Agent Alpaca pulled a homemade cigarette out from his pocket and lit it up. If they were going to lay low for a few hours it wouldn't hurt to smoke. "Where do you think she's going?"

"Just stay here and keep watch. Let me know if anyone's coming. Just whistle." Tiger told his friend who nodded to agree. He followed Disco down the ladder.

The dog deserved a proper resting place. It hadn't done anything wrong. The poor thing had probably been as terrified as they were of the Dracs that were hunting them. She knelt down near the body of the dog, oozing and bleeding onto the dirt. Its eyes weren't even closed and she could still see the fear in them. Disco got up and looked around, searching for something she could use to dig. She found an old trashcan lid and started digging near the corpse of the wounded dog.

It wouldn't be a very deep grave, but a grave nonetheless. Someone was going to miss this animal. It wasn't a stray or a coyote as they had thought from where they had sat on top of the store. It was a house pet, probably one that had come from generations of older dogs since it was rare to find strays of this caliber.

It even had a collar with a name carved into it. _Vader_ had been the dog's name. Disco would make sure to carve it into the trashcan lid and leave it on top of the makeshift grave for the animal. Tiger stood a few feet behind her, watching her dig like that. It was tough to see her like this. He hadn't known her very long but he could tell that what she was thinking about had nothing to do with the dog. In a way, it was almost a beautiful metaphor for what was really happening, but she likely didn't even realize it.

"Could you use some help?" He asked after a few moments of watching her dig. She looked back at him and didn't respond, instead she started moving the loose dirt out of the way with her hands. She picked up the body of the dog and laid it down carefully in the hole. She closed its eyes and watched it just lay there in the shallow grave for a few moments.

"You know, the Party Poison I knew a few years back… the one who made me leader of the west faction of Killjoys? He would've never done the things he's accused of today." Disco still didn't respond, but just stared at the dog, clearly too upset to speak. "That's why we have to find out what's really going on."

"I know that." Disco said sadly. She didn't need anyone to tell her that Party Poison wasn't to blame. But now she was wondering if it was because of some lack of leadership skills that the Killjoys they'd just witnessed had acted the way that they did.

"I don't think that it was an accident you were sent to me." Tiger crouched down next to where she sat, staring down at the dog's body. He watched her features curiously. He couldn't tell what was on her mind, she was obviously excellent at hiding her emotions due to the nature of her work.

"What do you mean?"

"I think that you were meant to come to me, because of the corruption happening here around us. You were sent to me."

"I don't believe in God." Disco turned her head to look at him, a ton of annoyance in her voice at the assumption. "Or fate for that matter. Life is what we make it, it has no predestined path."

"Well, I don't believe in luck." Tiger smiled a little bit at her. She looked away again. She didn't know how to respond to that. It was rare for anyone to believe in much of anything except for science these days. She hadn't heard of any Killjoy believing in a higher power and she thought it was pretty ludicrous. Fate was a ridiculous idea altogether, life wasn't plotted out on a course. It was an unpredictable roller coaster ride.

"Regardless of whether or not it was fate, because you came to me with this information and you decided not to kill me in the desert out there… because you had a change of heart and used your own judgment instead of doing blindly what you were told to do, we discovered all of this. We found out, because of you, that something was wrong with the Killjoys. Thanks to you, now we can find out who is really behind all of this and who is really pitting us against each other. I know it's a nasty situation and the future looks bleak. But if we hadn't discovered this corruption now then think of where we'd be in a week. Party Poison would be dead already, and so would I. With its leaders crippled the Killjoys wouldn't be able to go on. It'd be anarchy and Better Living would finally win."

"Maybe they should. Those Killjoys… did we teach them to act that way?"

"No, but we're not perfect either. It's impossible to be perfect. Look, it's a long road ahead but we're on the path to healing. Every organization has people in it who they aren't proud of, it doesn't mean we've failed."

"You really think that?"

"I do." Tiger said and then started to push the piled up dirt over the body of the dog. Disco watched and hung her head as the dead dog disappeared into the earth. Maybe something would someday grow from this soil, maybe whoever's dog this was would appreciate the gesture and see the kindness of what they had done for it. Maybe Tiger Beatdown was right. Even a terrible act, such as the one committed upon this dog, could be turned around. It was like a band-aid on a gushing wound, but eventually the bleeding would stop and clot and healing would begin.

"I hate to interrupt but I think we should head out now. Or at least we should go pretty soon. Night has set in and if we linger too long, it'll be sunrise." Alpaca could tell the two were having a moment and for the first time since he'd caught Disco Bitch pointing a rifle at his friend, he felt as though maybe she wasn't a traitor. "It's likely that the corruption started in the East. Not because of Party Poison being the leader there, but because they have more members and it'd be easier for a spy to hide amongst such a group."

"You're right." Disco nodded, getting up from the ground, dusting the dirt off of her knees. She felt renewed with the burial of the dog. Something inside of her felt as though it could go on. She wondered if this was what hope truly felt like. "We should head there first and do some investigating. Maybe after what happened today in the second zone with Party Poison, people are talking. We might be able to get some information."

"No." Tiger Beatdown stood up as well, placing the trash can lid down on the makeshift grave for the dog. "We're not going anywhere or doing any investigating without Party Poison. We're going to the bar in the fourth zone, like we promised."

"No offense, but don't you think that's a waste of time?" Alpaca made a face, not sure if he was okay with this plan. "I really don't think that Party Poison has any intention of actually meeting us there. I did attack him and he has no reason to trust us. Plus he wouldn't even come with us when we were trying to get away. For all we know, Korse could've gotten him."

"I know. And we'll only wait there through the night. If he doesn't show by morning then we'll go without him and take matters into our own hands." Tiger nodded resolutely. The others silently agreed and they turned away from the grave of the dog, starting their walk toward the fourth zone. It would be at least an hour or two walk. Disco kept repeating over and over again in her mind wishes that Party Poison would show up to meet them. She needed these men to see the man that she'd been trusting since they'd met so long ago.

"Wait." Disco stopped walking suddenly and jogged back to the spot where she and Tiger had buried the dog. She knelt down and pulled out a pocket knife. She carved _"Here Lies Vader- a loyal pet"_ on the trashcan lid and let it rest down on top of the grave once more. She turned away from the grave and ran to meet the two men she'd left standing in confusion. She'd buried her fear with the dead dog. "Sorry. Even a dog deserves a proper grave." The men nodded in understanding. Tiger gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze then urged her on her way.

Agent Alpaca stood staring at the grave for a few moments as his comrades walked onward. He wondered what had transpired at the grave and what had really gone on between them all while they were on the roof. It shook him to the core. He wondered if he was the only one who had been as deeply affected. He looked at Tiger Beatdown and Disco Bitch as they walked away together. This was going to take some getting used to.


	9. Alright, Time to Set the Record Straight

The bar appeared deserted as the trio from the west approached. The moon was high in the sky now, distorted by the dust of the desert and the storms passing through the west. They crept ever closer to the building, the only sound around them being the crickets chirping, and the sounds of their boots on the dirt and the rocks of the desert landscape. There were no lights on in the bar as they got closer, so it was clear that no one was waiting for them inside. Tiger Beatdown led them in a straight line around the back of the bar. He gestured for them to split up and meet up at the front. He'd decided that until they figured out who was behind all of the chaos going on amongst the Killjoys that they should act as though there were villains around each corner, waiting for them to let their guard down so they could attack.

Disco kept guard behind Tiger who crept around to the left side of the building. He held his gun pointed toward the ground so there'd be no casualties in case he fired a shot off out of nerves. He had an itchy trigger finger which is why he was always more inclined to strategize and defend rather than take the offensive. Agent Alpaca moved slowly along the right side of the building, investigating every shadow and being wary of every sound in the night. He could differentiate his friend's footsteps from a stranger and heard nothing to make him think they weren't alone. They had to be wary, regardless of assumptions. Agent Alpaca peered around the front of the wooden building and saw nothing suspicious. He didn't let down his gun, just in case, and headed to the screen door. He tried the handle and found it was locked tight. He could break in, but it didn't seem necessary.

Tiger Beatdown followed by Disco Bitch joined Agent Alpaca a moment later. They looked around once more in silence before they put away their weapons. There wasn't anyone in the area, at least not anyone looking for them.

"So what do we do now?" Agent Alpaca kept his voice quiet despite how they were now positive they were alone.

"We wait until sunrise." Tiger leaned against the front wall, next to the nearly destroyed sign by the door. It read _Turn Back_ which was the name of the bar. It wasn't a very inviting name but if people went in and asked about it, the owner told them that this was the point of no return. If you walked past this bar and into the next zone, then you deserved whatever came to you. When it sounded like a threat when first read, really it was a friendly warning to those who didn't know better.

"This is a waste of time. No one's going to show up! Then we'll be walking right into Party Poison's trap come sunrise, without any cover to keep us safe! This is stupid…" Agent Alpaca ranted but drifted off as he felt something cold and metallic on the back of his neck. A small hand slipped to his holster and removed his gun, holding it pointed at Tiger Beatdown and Disco Bitch who immediately drew their guns and pointed them at their attacker.

Fire Frenzy recognized them as the people who had been on the ground with Party Poison when she'd fired the rocket at Korse to save her lighter. They had been arguing with him from what she could make out but on the walk over, Party Poison had explained they weren't to be killed. She still didn't trust them, which was her nature, and kept the gun aimed at them.

"Who the fuck are you?" Disco Bitch spat at the new arrival. They'd checked the whole area, no one had been there. How had they missed this woman? Now they were in a bind and she had leverage over them. She wasn't fond of Agent Alpaca but she wasn't going to just let him die either. Being a Killjoy meant he was her brother in arms, even if she didn't like him.

"Put down your weapons." Fire Frenzy said to them simply, not threatened by aim at her. She was sure she could find her way out of the situation if they fired. Being as short as she was gave her the advantage of being able to shield herself behind the taller man in front of her whom she held hostage. Not to mention her face was covered in the mask and bandana she regularly wore so it'd be nearly impossible for them to recognize her by her voice or her facial features if they pursued her beyond this.

"You put down your weapon and we'll put down ours." Tiger Beatdown tried to reason with the woman who was attacking them.

"Everyone put down their weapons and we can talk about this rationally." Party Poison stepped out from the shadows and immediately put his hands up in the air, his repaired ray gun in his right hand still, despite his demanding everyone be unarmed.

"You brought someone?" Tiger Beatdown looked frustrated by this new development. Maybe he wasn't as innocent as he had hoped if he had gone to get back up. How many others did he have hidden around the area, staking them out?

"Yeah, I did. Is that a problem, Tiger?" Poison spoke defensively. He was tired of the accusations people were shooting at him. He wasn't a traitor and he'd never be. He'd rather die than betray his cause.

"If you want us to put down our guns, then you can put yours down first." Agent Alpaca spoke, despite the fact that he had no weapon to relinquish.

"You are not in a position to be making demands." Frenzy spoke calmly.

"Everyone just calm the fuck down!" Disco shouted over them as the bickering continued. "On the count of three, put down your guns! One, two, three!" No one put down their weapon.

"Is she stupid?" Frenzy asked Party Poison who couldn't help but smile a little bit at the accusation and how little she cared that Disco heard.

"I can't trust you. I'm not putting down my weapon." Party Poison spoke.

"If you didn't trust me, then why did you come?" Tiger Beatdown knew they both had their doubts but hadn't thought their bond of trust had been broken as severely as Party Poison was implying.

"Because I'm just as confused as you are, you thick fuck!" Poison snarled.

"This is stupid, all of you put down your guns. I'm not on either side." Fire Frenzy kept both the guns in her hands aimed, prepared to point one at Party Poison if she had to.

"What the hell is going on out here?" Harvey, the bar owner, stepped out the front door and froze, seeing the standoff in front of him. He was in an old beaten up robe and some loose looking jersey knit pants. He held his hands out in front of him in the universal symbol for being unarmed. "…Frenz, what did you do?" Harvey looked at the woman in confusion.

"They won't put down their guns." She said simply with a great heave of a sigh.

"Ah. Okay." Harvey looked around. He recognized the two leaders of the separate factions of Killjoys and it made him nervous to what was going on out there in the night. He was accustomed to only seeing Fire Frenzy once a week, if that. He'd seen her already three times in two days. That was excessive and more than he needed. Every time she showed up there was some kind of drama. "Well, I'd prefer none of you to die in front of my bar if you could help it. Business is bad enough without any more rumors… Particularly since there was an explosion here the other night. People from Battery City won't come in anymore. They claim my clientele is too unpredictable."

"I said I was sorry about that, okay?" Frenzy snapped at him. "You were lucky I didn't burn down the damn bar!"

"Yes, but you nearly burned it down by setting those cars on fire in the parking lot!" Harvey took a deep breath and calmed himself down as he realized that everyone was just staring at the two while they argued. "Listen. How about I take your weapons so that none of you are armed and if you start a fight all you'll have is your fists?" The group exchanged weary glances. It was becoming clear that they would relent, that none of them really knew what was happening or who was to blame. Party Poison made the first move and handed over his gun along with the rifle that Fire Frenzy had given him in her bunker.

It was like someone had popped the bubble of tension around them as one by one they handed over their weapons. Fire Frenzy reluctantly gave over her weapons, including the knife she kept hidden in her boot, once Harvey had pointed out he remembered her having it. She grumbled something about him being a pain in the ass as she walked past him into the bar. The others walked inside as well, ready to finally get to the bottom of the treachery that had surfaced amongst the Killjoys.

Harvey surveyed the surrounding area to make sure no one was creeping in the shadows after everyone had entered the building behind him. He closed the door after a moment of watching and locked the deadbolt then pulled down a security bar in front of the door to prevent anyone from breaking the door in on itself.

He walked around the room, pulling down the large black shades over the windows that would make it look like there were no lights on. The familiar clicking of Fire Frenzy flicking at her lighter assured him there would be light to guide him back to the lanterns he kept around the bar. The bar had a generator outside that ran on gasoline but it made a lot of noise when it was running and it seemed like a bad idea to turn it on with the rebels who were now gathering inside of his bar just in case they were being pursued. After all the windows had been secured he walked around the bar and lit the seven lanterns he kept. The light provided by the lanterns was almost as efficient as the electric lamps that hung from the ceiling. Harvey looked at the group, realizing they were watching him then shook his head and headed back to the bar. They took this as a signal to continue on with what they were planning on doing.

Party Poison in particular was grateful that Harvey had interrupted and taken all of their weapons and stowed them beneath the bar. It had saved them an hour of arguing outside of the building on who would put down their gun first. Party Poison looked to the man he hadn't seen in years, the leader of the western faction. He looked worn thin, as though he hadn't slept in a good long time. He wondered if his own face reflected such things.

"Tiger, I think you and I should talk this out leader to leader."

"No, no way. I'm not going to let you pull Tiger aside to manipulate him." Agent Alpaca argued immediately. He was tired of watching people pulling on Tiger like he was some kind of marionette.

"I was the one who put Tiger Beatdown into a position of power to begin with. I was positive then in his decision making abilities and I remain just as positive. One more word out of you Alpaca and I won't need my fucking gun to shut you up." Party Poison had enough of this garbage. He was tired of pussy footing around his own men. It was time to put his foot down and get to the bottom of things.

"He's right Alpaca. I know you're worried but you need to stand down. Go get a drink at the bar. Give this man some business since he's been kind enough to open his bar to us at such an ungodly hour." Tiger didn't look away from Party Poison as he ordered his right hand man to step away. He hadn't seen such anger in Poison's face in his lifetime. Even when they had been struggling to establish order amongst the Killjoys when they'd first met, he'd never seen such frustration. Agent Alpaca threw up his hands in irritation and defeat and turned away, muttering under his breath unsavory things about both of the men who had sent him away. Tiger waited for him to be out of earshot before sitting down at a table at the far end of the bar, near a lantern hanging off of a hook on the wall. Party Poison did the same, still wary of the man who was once his friend.

Awkward silence followed for a few moments before Tiger finally broke it. The situation was just so strange, it was hard to find a place to begin this conversation.

"Why the hell did you send someone to kill me?"

"I was told, while I was on a mission, that you had turned traitor. I was told that you were giving the orphans we saved and protected to the Dracs to be experimented on for a profit. You know what we do with traitors. So I sent my best assassin. Apparently I need to reconsider my opinion on who that is though since you are still clearly breathing." Poison tapped his fingers on the table to keep from getting too angry too quickly. He missed the damn lighter and grew jealous as he heard Frenzy flicking it. Tiger Beatdown had heard a similar story from Disco Bitch but he was still finding it hard to believe. How could Poison believe he'd done that, after all they had gone through together in the past? It had, of course, been years since they served together. People changed, he was right, you couldn't say that a memory of someone from so long ago was true in the present.

"I would've done the same, probably after some convincing from Alpaca but… you're right. Just because we were friends once doesn't mean I could risk the entire foundation of the Killjoys collapsing under corruption. You did the right thing… even if your information was wrong." Tiger Beatdown leaned his elbows up on the table, hunching forward a bit with shoulders slumped to look at Party Poison seriously. "Who was your informant? We need to trace this back to find out who the source of the lies are."

"I can tell you but, it's not going to lead you very far." Party Poison had agonized over this since the moment that Tiger had shown up with his comrades in the second zone. "Kobra Kid came to tell me during my mission and he says he got his information in a report from Death-iNation. You don't know him, only few people actually do. He's one of our six sleeper cell's working for Better Living Industries. He's our mole." Tiger Beatdown mused over this. The sleeper cell's that were chosen to help the Killjoys went through the most rigorous of training processes and had to be trusted to be sent into the city. It was highly unlikely that the sleeper cell was the actual source of the accusation. Perhaps the information had been intercepted on its way to Kobra Kid, just as his letter to Party Poison had been?

Fire Frenzy didn't invite the others to sit with her at the bar, but they followed her anyway not knowing what else to do since they weren't invited to listen in on the conversation taking place between the two Killjoy leaders. Frenzy leaned her elbows on the counter and flicked the lighter lovingly. It was warm to her touch from all of the burning she'd done on the way there. She had to make up for lost time since it had been gone for nearly an entire day. Alpaca and Disco sat on either side of the woman, not wanting to sit near each other so they wouldn't have to be forced to make conversation or be "friendly" with each other.

Harvey came around the side of the bar and grabbed three glasses, resting them down in front of each of his newest patrons.

"So, what do you want to drink?" He filled Fire Frenzy's glass with a dark amber liquid and waited for the other two to respond to his query.

"Just water for me." Disco Bitch responded, looking away from the tempting bottles on the shelf. She hated bars. She never came into these places if she could avoid them.

"Beer, whatever you have on the tap is fine." Agent Alpaca knew that the alcohol would dehydrate him but he really needed a nice cold beer at this particular moment. The last couple of days had been so stressful he thought he might have popped a few blood vessels. Beer might be just the thing he needed to soothe his nerves.

Harvey diligently filled their glasses with their requests and each threw a few bills at him to pay for the drinks, not wanting to take advantage of his hospitality. Awkward silence filled the room, except for the hushed and muffled voices of Party Poison and Tiger Beatdown across the room.

"Oh Fire Frenzy, I got something for you after you left earlier." Harvey put the towel he held draped over his shoulder in case of spills onto the counter and walked from behind the bar. All three watched him from their barstools until he came from the back room a moment later with a box that clinked of metal every time he took a step. He set it down on the ground, not wanting to contaminate the clean bar with its contents. Frenzy's face lit up, not in a smile, but with curiosity. She stood up and propped her hands on the bar, forcing herself up off of the ground. She set her feet on the top of the bar and jumped over to the other side, making herself comfortable on the floor with the box in front of her.

Frenzy opened the box and Harvey resumed about his work behind the bar, used to the way that this woman was by now, so not finding her at all interesting. Disco Bitch and Agent Alpaca on the other hand, were curious as hell to find out what was happening behind the bar. Both craned their necks in an attempt to see what she was pulling out from the box.

Frenzy pulled piece after piece of scrap metal out and laid them on the floor, away from Harvey in case he were to step near her. The last time she'd done this behind the bar he'd stepped on a piece and it'd gone right through his shoe and gouged his foot. He'd limped for weeks and never quite forgave her properly for it.

"You need a refill?" Harvey asked Alpaca, slightly amused at their curiosity. He wondered how Fire Frenzy had come upon these people, she didn't like working in groups and never really bonded with anyone prior to this. He particular wondered how she had managed to befriend the man she'd been threatening to kill not too long ago.

"What?" Alpaca awoke from his stupor, realizing he'd drained his whole glass of beer. "Oh, just water now please. I don't want to overdo it." He smiled slightly and then turned his attention back to Fire Frenzy. "Does she always do this?" He asked in a hushed voice. It didn't matter though, Fire Frenzy wasn't paying attention to him anyway. She looked around curiously for something she needed. She wanted to try to build something with these pieces. The more she had touched them, the more she'd examined the way they curved and fit together, the easier it had become to envision something they could be if she had the right tools.

She flicked the lighter a few more times before getting up on her knees and sneakily slipping her hand into Harvey's robe pocket, stealing his screwdriver without him noticing. She sat back down on the floor and jammed the Phillips head through one of the metallic pieces that made an incredibly loud sound. The whole bar stopped functioning for a second as everyone looked for the source. After it was made clear it was just Frenzy doing what she was doing, the voices from the corner resumed.

Disco Bitch and Agent Alpaca both were out of their seat now, leaning on the bar to watch the woman at work, curious of what was going to become of the scrap metal in her hands.

The loud noise from behind the bar had stopped them dead. Both of them had instantly thought they were under attack, but once they realized it was just one of the others doing something behind the bar it was easy for them to resume conversation. They had made progress, Tiger could finally feel the tension coming from Party Poison easing up a bit.

"I think that we should ask Kobra how exactly he came about his information. I know you said he received a transmission from Death-iNation but perhaps someone fabricated that transmission. We need to find out who delivered it to Kobra Kid then perhaps we'll be able to find the source of the leak." Tiger Beatdown wanted to clear Disco Bitch's reputation if he could manage it as well. The woman had taken a tremendous risk to her life and name when she'd decided to let him live.

"I think that's an excellent idea, but he could be as clueless as we are. We've never had to question transmissions before. Our lines are always clean. Our informants are always triple checked. We don't just trust someone who isn't worthy of being trusted."

"I know that. Trust me. That… reminds me. Disco Bitch came to kill me, yes? She's your assassin right?" Party Poison nodded, shooting a glance over to the woman. He was still burned that she had defied his word even if it had led them to where they were now. It had caused him a lot of grief when she'd gone behind his back and it was going to take him a long while to get over that, even once he had heard the whole story. "She found me and had me in her sights. She was going to kill me, trust me she didn't just come over and turn traitor. She saw me after I had just come back from a mission in the desert. I'd gone out there under false pretenses to find some supplies and it turned out to be an ambush. All of my men were killed. I was feeling down and exhausted and I needed to remind myself why those lives were lost that afternoon. I went to visit the orphans we were sheltering in the desert at the end of our encampment. There was an acid storm on its way to the west, it's probably passed through and moved on by now, but I was helping them prepare to deal with it."

"So she had you in her sights while you were helping _orphans_? No wonder she couldn't kill you." It was like in Hamlet when he had walked in on the new king, the man who had murdered his father, praying. That famous speech, that most people could quote merely the first line of, was about Hamlet agonizing whether or not to strike the man dead while he prayed to get his vengeance even if it meant the man would find eternal peace in slumber because of his act of repentance at the moment of his death. Had Disco Bitch pondered such things as well? Perhaps not, she had probably seen it as an act of kindness, not as a reflection on how he would perish. _Not everyone thinks in literature._

"Well, she probably would've reported back to you but Agent Alpaca caught her first."

"Ah, well why isn't she dead then? Isn't that what we do to traitors?"

"I would've done just that if I hadn't just received word that _you_ had turned traitor. I found it suspicious that an assassin would be coming for me from the east when I had just received reports of you turning on us."

"Yeah, well to tell you the truth Tiger, I don't get it." Party Poison shook his head adamantly. "I guess that's why I made you leader. I would've thought an assassin showing up would be all the proof you'd need to find that I'd turned on you not give you suspicion of the opposite."

"Yes, but I had been thinking about that while helping the orphans set up shelter. I was just remembering the way things used to be when we served together. Remember all the times we talked about how we'd rather die than betray our integrity? Betray our cause! I didn't want to just jump to conclusions against someone I'd trusted, even when it was so long ago. I had planned on consulting you about the accusations before making any moves. Then Disco Bitch turned up and it changed everything." Both Tiger and Poison glanced toward the bar where the two were sitting. Poison vaguely wondered where Fire Frenzy had gone but had a feeling that she had been the source of the loud noise behind the bar that had startled them earlier.

They couldn't see her even when they craned their necks over while standing up behind the bar. Disco had been the first to climb on top of the bar to sit and watch Fire Frenzy work but Agent Alpaca had joined her a moment later. Harvey had removed himself from the situation entirely, off in the back room digging for something he hadn't mentioned.

"What are you doing?" Disco Bitch finally asked the woman curiously. She obviously wasn't the friendly type and wasn't going to just tell them what she was doing flat out despite their obvious curiosity.

"Building." She muttered, holding a few pieces of fine wire between her teeth. She hiked up her skirt and sat in an awkward position to be able to screw together two of the pieces. She needed a soldering iron but this would do for now until she could get to one. She'd thread the thin wire and pretend to sew it up like a wound.

"Well that I can see." Agent Alpaca scoffed, thinking this woman was a bit off. He was still burned from how she had held him at gunpoint. He'd never let anyone get the best of him like that, and so simply. How had this woman escaped his keen eye?

"Shut up Alpaca." Disco elbowed him and continued to watch Fire Frenzy curiously. "Don't piss her off, then she'll never tell us." Fire Frenzy grumbled in response, something unintelligible due to the wire between her teeth. "What are you building?" She asked again after a moment. Fire Frenzy spit the wire out from between her teeth, starting to strap the pieces of metal together.

"Not sure yet." She responded, though she had a vague idea of what she was trying to make. She could envision it all in her head, but sometimes she wasn't sure what purpose it would serve until it came to fruition.

"Well it looks like a gun." Alpaca spoke, turning his head to the side. "Or a dinosaur."

"That shoots lasers." Disco laughed. It felt nice to joke even if it was with someone she wasn't particularly fond of.

"It could be a bomb too though."

"Shaped like a dinosaur." Disco laughed and realized that the girl on the floor was ignoring them. Where had she come from in the first place? Why was she with Party Poison? He didn't have a lot of friends that he would trust in this situation and she'd never even seen this woman amongst the Killjoys. Was his reputation with women just that? A reputation to hide some kind of torrid love affair with this strange woman? That didn't seem right either. If Party Poison had been with someone he would've told people. He wasn't the type to keep things like that quiet.

"Hey girl… I mean… Hmm." Agent Alpaca seemed to realize that they didn't know her name. Perhaps it was impolite of them to not know by this point and neither had realized it. Introductions had escaped them with all the worries of weapons and conspiracies.

"That's right… We haven't been introduced." Disco Bitch felt rude for not saying anything earlier but it had slipped her mind. "I'm Disco Bitch, I work for Party Poison."

"I'm Agent Alpaca. I'm with Tiger Beatdown."

"Nice to meet you." Fire Frenzy didn't lift her eyes up to look at either of them. She honestly hadn't been listening to their introductions. It didn't seem very important for her to have to know their names since she didn't plan on interacting with them for much longer.

"What's your name?" Disco Bitch asked after they watched her work for a few more minutes. Both had assumed she would introduce herself once they had, but both had been wrong to assume.

"She's someone who needs a tetanus shot." Harvey returned a moment later and knelt down next to his bar. He opened one of the cabinets and pulled out several empty bottles to dispose of. He couldn't help but taunt Fire Frenzy with that information and remind her as well to get her hand taken care of.

"I swear I'll throw this at you Harvey." Frenzy narrowed her eyes and held the screwdriver threateningly. Harvey checked his robe pocket after realizing she had taken it from him and shook his head in disapproval.

"Well when your hand falls off, don't come crying to me. I'm just going to tell you that you should've gotten it taken care of before you forgot."

"That's not what tetanus does asshole!" Frenzy called after him then finally chose to acknowledge the two sitting on the bar. When had they gotten up there? Had they been watching her this whole time? She really had to learn how to be more aware of her surrounds when she built. It was going to get her into trouble one day. "I'm Fire Frenzy. I saw you earlier, but you didn't see me. I think I saved you from Korse but not on purpose. I was chasing Party Poison to get back my lighter. He stole it."

"You… chased him and saved our lives for a lighter? The one you've been playing with?" Agent Alpaca had seen her flicking it earlier but thought it had been a nervous tic. He was right in a way. It was definitely keeping her nerves calm but he had no idea how much she relied on it.

Party Poison felt guilty now that he knew that Tiger Beatdown had preferred to contact him before accusing him of such crimes, but he had his reasons to not want to mess with a meeting and the dangers it could potentially pose. Tiger Beatdown was thinking the same thing. Why hadn't his friend wanted to give him a chance to find out why he had been accused in the first place? They sat in silence for a moment. Accusations stood against them both and they had no way to prove they were true, nor any way to prove they were false.

"I didn't attempt a meeting with you. I wanted to." Party Poison began, having a lot to say on the matter. He recalled now why he hadn't. "When I first heard the reports from Kobra Kid I was conflicted. You were my friend for years, I trusted you but I also trust my men. I didn't immediately put out the order to have you killed. I went to clear my mind. I ran into that girl who came with me and I asked for her advice."

"You asked for advice from a stranger?" Tiger seemed surprised. Maybe Party Poison _had_ been slipping over the years. It was a crime against their cause to tell strangers information about their organization.

"I didn't divulge any names or even that I was a member of the Killjoys. I used vague references to the situation and asked what she would do. She told me that she'd take charge of the situation. I was planning on going over to the western faction with full force, storming in and taking over until I found out what was going on." Party Poison nodded resolutely, which had indeed been what he had planned to do until Kobra Kid had reported to him a second time that night.

"Well, why didn't you do that instead? Even though I'm in charge of the western Killjoys, your word is still law amongst us. We never strayed from that. I never held myself superior to you. If you had just talked to me, things would've been straightened out."

"I know. But what happened next changed my mind about what had to be done. I was interrupted with my plans for the night when Kobra Kid found me again. He had received word from one of my men, you might remember him, a medic named Jet-Star. He was attacked out in the western zones by Killjoys he thought were from the west."

"What?" Tiger let his jaw drop in disbelief. It was one thing to receive word about deceit, but a whole other thing to have an attack actually happen against the Killjoys. "Was anyone killed? I… I swear I didn't send anyone. I was on a mission during that time, out in the outer zones to ambush a supply shipment going to the Dracs and… I was attacked! My men were killed Poison, but not by Killjoys… by Dracs. It was like we had been set up." Both men stared at each other in disbelief, sudden understanding of just how severe their situation hanging heavily on their shoulders.

"Shit." Poison leaned back in his chair, tipping the front legs off of the ground, exhaling deeply and pushing his red hair back, holding it up and out of his face for a moment while he thought about the situation. "So Jet-Star was attacked by Killjoys, perhaps the same ones who attacked me in the second zone. I thought they were from your faction too, but I never actually got to ask. I just didn't recognize any of them so I could only assume that's where they had come from."

"Perhaps the same person who gave me the information about the shipment sent the Killjoys after Jet-Star and after you." Tiger tapped his fingers on the table, his brow heavily furrowed as he clearly was trying to sort out their confusion. "Why were you in the second zone to begin with? This is where I get lost. I sent a messenger out the night before, after we had cleared things up with Disco Bitch. I made Agent Alpaca send one to you, to schedule a meeting in the second zone so we could figure things out. If you weren't there to meet me, then what were you doing there?" Party Poison looked at him with wide eyes, eyebrows high on his forehead, his age showing for the first time since they'd met up again with the wrinkles around his eyes and in his forehead.

"I never received a message to go to the second zone to meet you. The message must have been intercepted. I was trying to find someone who stole something from me, that… woman actually who was helping me. She's the one who saved us from Korse. At least now what happened in the second zone makes sense. I was so confused… If the Killjoys hadn't been yours then why had you been there? To meet me of course. That's the only thing that makes sense. So maybe the Killjoys who were there to attack me intercepted your messenger and came to the second zone to do us both in."

"That sounds about right." It was like an epiphany had spread over the both of them. It was complex and confusing and unlikely but seemed to be the only result that made sense and fit all of the facts that they were coming up with. "So now that we know neither one of us is to blame, what do we do?"

"We get to the bottom of this bullshit. I'm done playing nice with these assholes. I don't like the wool being pulled over my eyes and lives have been lost now!"

"Before we came to the bar, Disco Bitch had suggested that we head to the eastern base to try and investigate the people there. You have more members in your faction and it's more likely that if there's a plant then it's amongst them." Tiger Beatdown suggested.

"You're right. Plus we can take a look at the information that Kobra Kid delivered to me and we can ask Jet-Star more about what happened when he was attacked." Poison stood up from his seat at the table, pushing his chair back into place. Tiger Beatdown stood up as well, following suit with his chair.

"So do you know what it is yet?" Disco smiled, watching Fire Frenzy on the floor of the bar still. She was fascinating, and kind of amusing. It was rare you met anyone with such focus in this day and age. Nearly everyone was dependent on a drug to get through the day and it was refreshing to meet someone who didn't wear the same faceless mask that the rest of humanity seemed to adopt since BL/ind had started handing out bottles of pills.

"I don't. I usually don't until it's done and I have to try and make it work." Fire Frenzy was hunched over the metallic object which was looking more and more like a pretty devastating bomb.

"That's pretty cool though. You just let the metal do the talking. I like it." Disco smiled. Agent Alpaca was tired of being stuck with strange people. Fire Frenzy seemed to be the same brand of stubborn and confusing that Disco Bitch was. No wonder the two got along so well it seemed, though he wasn't sure the woman behind the bar was finding this to be friendly conversation or if she was merely responding because it was easier than ignoring them.

"Don't harass her, or she'll blow you up with it."

"Aw, come on. She's cool. Take it easy Alpaca. You're just burnt because she got the best of you."

"I am not." Alpaca pouted, which gave away the fact that it still bothered him.

"Don't be upset that I took your gun, I kill lots of people. It happens." Frenzy shrugged, not bothering to look up.

"See? She didn't kill you. You're special." Disco laughed. It felt good to have a reason to laugh. Usually she'd think it was insensitive given the current situation, but she had recently decided that it wasn't wrong to laugh when the opportunity was given. If you spent all your time worried and stressing when times were stressful, then you'd meet an early grave. Since it was already likely that most of them were going to be dead in the next week, she figured a laugh or two before she went couldn't hurt. Alpaca merely grumbled and looked away, pretending to find the propaganda posters hung on the wall absolutely fascinating. "So what's with the lighter?"

"It's mine."

"Clearly. It's pretty well decorated. You flick it a lot too, are you making sure it works?" Disco continued to ask.

"No." She didn't offer an alternate explanation either.

"How did Party Poison get your lighter? You said you had to get it back from him."

"He stole it."

"How did he steal it from you?"

"At a party. He's a thief. And a dealer. Did you know that?"

"Yeah, I know." Disco Bitch shrugged. "Nobody's perfect. We all have our flaws."

"You still do that?" Tiger asked, cocking an eyebrow as they joined the conversation. Party Poison shrugged his shoulders, the corner of his mouth curling up in a smile.

"Do what?" Agent Alpaca asked curiously.

"Party Poison likes to take souvenirs from the pretty girls he seduces." Tiger wiggled his eyebrows comically. Party Poison looked away, shoving his hands in his pockets. He didn't like to advertise that he did those things and felt sudden guilt for the women he'd deceived.

"Oh, so he was your lover?" Agent Alpaca leaned down to look at Fire Frenzy who was finally getting to her feet, setting down the metallic object she'd finished working on.

"He wishes." Frenzy shrugged, picking up the glass that Harvey had left her on the counter. She drained it. Party Poison rolled his eyes at her. "It's a bomb. Like you guessed, Disco Bitch." Frenzy pointed at the object she'd built. "It's unarmed and needs some C-4 but it can be remotely detonated once I get the wiring in it." She jumped on top of the bar again, and went to climb off of it. Party Poison offered her his hand to get down and she ignored it, jumping down and regaining her balance after a moment.

"That's great, we can use it next time we need to blow shit up." Tiger laughed, clearly amused by this banter. After a moment he took a more serious tone, knowing that the group at the bar were all curious to find out what they had decided upon. "Party Poison was told I was a traitor and Jet-Star was attacked by Killjoys."

"What?" Disco Bitch and Agent Alpaca said in unison.

"We're guessing that the Killjoys are the ones that ambushed me in the second zone while I was searching for Fire Frenzy." Poison folded his arms over his chest.

"That's most likely. So we've decided the best course of action is to band together now that we realized neither one of us is to blame. We're going to head to the eastern zone like Disco Bitch suggested earlier. We'll interview members and investigate anything suspicious. Party Poison will ask Kobra Kid about the information he received from Death-iNation." Tiger nodded. The others agreed though Agent Alpaca still looked like he had a sour attitude toward the entire situation.

"Well, let's not waste anymore time then." Party Poison nodded toward the door as he watched Fire Frenzy tinkering with the bomb she'd built. _Holy shit, she's really good at what she does_.

"Party Poison?" Disco Bitch stopped walking as Tiger and Alpaca headed outside. He broke from his thoughts of Fire Frenzy and glanced back at her. "I'm glad you're okay. It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too. I'm glad you're not dead." Party Poison said after a moment of confused staring. She wasn't usually the sentimental type. Something must have happened while she was gone.

"You looked so awful in the second zone. I've never seen you so manic. It scared me."

"Yeah, well I had just jumped across an entire block of rooftops after being attacked by Killjoys. It wasn't exactly my most shining moment, particularly after Korse came after me. You know how he gets to me."

"Yeah… Just be careful from now on okay? I'm glad you're alright." Disco Bitch looked like she wanted to hug her friend but refrained. "And next time, trust me a little bit more. I trust your judgment, but this wasn't a normal case of trust."

"After what happened in the second zone, I wasn't trusting anyone. But we're on the same page now." Poison smiled kindly at the woman who had been his friend for so long. He'd saved her from herself so long ago, he knew it had built a bond between them. Things were starting to come full circle for them all. "Go on, I'll catch up." Disco nodded and ran after Tiger Beatdown and Agent Alpaca. She stopped at the door to pick up her gun from Harvey who was standing there with the weapons they'd handed over. She checked the weapon to make sure it wasn't damaged then continued after them. She jumped between them and smirked.

"So, I think someone owes us an apology." She said in a sing song voice.

"That's never happening." Party Poison watched Agent Alpaca scowl at Disco Bitch. It was like old times, old adventures. He turned to look at Fire Frenzy who looked as though she had no intention of coming with him. "Come on." He grabbed her arm. She shoved him off.

"I helped you get to the bar. That was the deal." Fire Frenzy turned to face him, wanting to be finished with this. She had other things to do that were more important than the inefficient Killjoys. She needed to get back on her search for the orphans, for BL/ind's brainwashing devices. She needed to, before she lost sight of what was important to her. She'd made a promise years ago to do this, and she wasn't going to give up now just because some guy with pretty hazel eyes was asking her to.

"No, no… I need you to come with me."

"You need to get going, peddler."

"No, come on… Look. There must be something you want. I can help you figure things out if you help me with this. We need your help. You're much better at this attacking thing than I am. You don't trust any of us. I could use that for interviewing my men. You'll see things none of us will see." Fire Frenzy stayed quiet for a long moment.

"You'll help me get what I want then? No matter what it is." She said after a moment. Tiger was at the door again now, calling to them.

"Are you guys coming?"

"Yeah, just give us a second." Party Poison turned back to Fire Frenzy. "I'll help you with whatever you need if you just talk to me and help me out."

"Okay. But you're going to regret this. And we're still not friends. And my eyes are up here." She smacked underneath his chin to tilt his head up since he was no longer looking at her eyes, but rather at the chain of a necklace he hadn't noticed before.

"I was looking at the cut on your hand, not…" Party Poison wasn't sure why he had felt the need to lie about it. If he had been actually looking at her body he would've admitted it, why was this any different?

"Oh save it." Fire Frenzy walked past him and over to Harvey who handed her the weapons she'd reluctantly given to him earlier. "Just put the bomb in the back. It's unarmed. I'll be back for it soon. Keep your eyes open okay? If you need to take cover you know how to find safety." She looked at him seriously. Harvey was the only person she permitted in her bunker when she wasn't there. He nodded and gave the woman a fatherly kiss on the cheek.

"Be safe."

"Don't worry about her. I'll keep her safe." Party Poison joined them, taking his weapons.

"Don't listen to him, he's an idiot. I'll keep myself safe as I always do." Frenzy assured Harvey then walked out of the bar, followed closely by Party Poison who couldn't help but smile just a little bit at the woman ahead of him.


	10. Anarchy, Rebellion, and Lessons Learned

The walk back to the third zone went faster than any of them had anticipated it would. The sun was rising over the horizon now and doing away with the bits of cold air that had managed to settle in during the night. Party Poison could've done without it entirely. He was already sweating when they saw the foreboding chained gates of the eastern Killjoy headquarters. The sight was a familiar one but something seemed different as the group approached. They all stopped with Party Poison, wondering if he had to do something to signal the approach since he'd been missing for so long. _Not really that long, it's only been a day. It's felt like an eternity though. _

Now he was returning with one unknown and two accused traitors. The only one who would be considered welcome upon immediately entering would be Agent Alpaca since there were no accusations against him whatsoever. Though the Killjoys there might be wary regardless since he hadn't visited the eastern headquarter before.

"What is it, Poison?" Disco Bitch asked after a moment of staring at the entrance, waiting for something magical that she knew was never coming. Party Poison almost shared his concerns with the woman but instead shook his head.

"Nothing. Let's go." He trudged on through the sand, the group kicking up a trail of dust that hid them up to their knees. Fire Frenzy slipped her bandana around her mouth to keep the dirt from bothering her. Since she was the shortest of the group she found it bothering her more than the others. They stopped in front of the gates and a Killjoy seated at the top, overlooking those who approached, shouted down at him.

"What business do you have here?"

"It's Party Poison. I have guests, which means we have guests. Open the gates." The gates opened at his command with a howling creak, pushing sand forward in its wake. Poison smirked. _That was easier than I expected_. His paranoia must have been getting the best of him. They walked into the encampment, looking around for those who would usually come to greet them. Party Poison had appointed generals to the task, but not a single one was present. This struck him as odd but he could've just been paranoid. _After all that's happened who could blame me?_

"Something's not right." Tiger Beatdown spoke what they were all thinking.

"Get down!" Fire Frenzy grabbed Tiger's arm and tugged him down as she sunk to the ground and leaned beneath him, pointing through his legs as she pulled out her ray gun.

"No!" Party Poison ducked and grabbed at Frenzy's arm to throw off her aim. "Don't shoot at them!" Even as he spoke, a laser was hitting the ground just in front of him. Fire Frenzy dropped her weapon and shook her hand. The sparks from the misfired laser had singed her flesh. "Everyone stop fucking shooting!" He yelled. But it was a hopeless effort; lasers were suddenly blasting from every corner of the encampment, aimed toward them. Disco Bitch started kicking up dust to try and skew the aim of their assailants.

"Scatter! We're sitting ducks!" Agent Alpaca shouted and ran to the side for cover, kicking up the dust and dirt as he did, purposely dragging his feet.

"Get down stupid! They're looking for _you_!" Fire Frenzy grabbed Poison by his arm and pulled him down to her level. She scooped up her gun from the dirt and aimed through the dust, coughing even beneath her bandana.

"Don't fucking shoot them Frenzy, I swear to God I'll hit you!"

"Oh shut up you fucking pussy!" Frenzy rolled out of his reach and shot at the guard tower on her left.

"No!" The tower wasn't occupied, so Party Poison's fears were alleviated as he didn't hear the cries of the wounded. The whole of the fray stopped and stared as they heard the creaks of the guard tower. There were six of these buildings positioned around the encampment, pieced together with scrap metal higher than the rest of the buildings and the gates so they could see any oncoming attacks. The only way into the tower was via ladder from the ground. Frenzy stood up and started to approach the guard tower, firing at the supports and at the places she thought were mostly likely to do damage. Since she had so much experience working with metal and welding she knew where the weak points would generally form in such a structure.

"Fucking genius." Poison laughed with a sideways smirk as he got to his feet but was immediately kicked back down to the ground by someone behind him. Poison caught himself with his hands just in time to prevent him from eating the dirt. The guard tower finally gave out under Frenzy's fire and with a horrible creaking of metal and scraping akin to nails on a chalkboard it came crashing down to the ground, sending it on top of the three tents next to it. A wave of dust like nothing their feet could have ever mustered washed over the camp, carried and continued by the wind that seemed to pick up by the second.

"Get out of the way!" Disco Bitch grabbed Fire Frenzy's arm and started pulling her through the camp. She'd made herself a target by shooting down the guard tower. She had been lucky that no one had any idea what she had been up to until the moment the thing had collapsed or they would've swarmed her to prevent it. "What were you thinking?" Disco shouted, dodging other Killjoys who were running here and there to assess the damage and try to catch the intruders. With this much dust in the air, only a fool would continue to fire laser after laser. There'd be too much of a risk for people to shoot their comrades in arms instead of the intruders.

"He told me not to shoot the assholes shooting at us, next best bet is to shoot the fucking buildings right?"

"You're insane!" Disco Bitch laughed, despite her accusations.

"Yeah, you're not the first person to tell me that, but I feel completely lucid." Frenzy shrugged and ran through the camp with Disco.

* * *

><p>Party Poison rolled onto his back as a man he didn't recognize pinned him down to the ground. <em>Not this bullshit again<em>. _I'm tired of rolling around in the fucking dirt._ Poison grabbed his attackers face and dug his dull nails into the skin as much as he could. A cry of anguish escaped the man's lips and he felt teeth digging into his leather glove. Biting was always a last ditch effort for anyone trying to fight back. Even though it didn't look like it, he had the upper hand now. Poison pulled back his hand, spit in the eyes of the man on top of him and smashed the base of his palm into the bottom of the man's nose. The scream echoed around him as he felt the fragile bone and cartilage that formed his nose as it snapped and slipped up and out of place. Blood poured over Poison's fingers and he grabbed the man's face again, as well as his arm and shoved him off of him. He stood and kicked the man in the ribs just to add insult to injury.

"Breathe now fucker!" Poison coughed as he caught his breath and wiped his face free of the dirt, in result spreading the blood all over his face. He'd forgotten what it was like to really fight like this and couldn't help but smirk. Adrenaline was perhaps the most intoxicating of drugs. Poison looked around for his comrades but couldn't see them. _Every man for himself I guess._ He trusted them to find their way out of this situation and if they didn't, he'd come back for them. He firmly believed in no man being left behind.

"Party Poison!" Poison stopped his run, sliding in the dirt and turning to face the person who called to him. He knew it wasn't one of the four he had traveled with. A young Killjoy with a fading green mohawk faced him, goggles over his eyes and his gun pointed at him. "I'm Phoenix Fury and if you put down your gun now I won't fucking blow your brains out!"

"Oh really?" Party Poison narrowed his eyes at the man who was soon joined by three other Killjoys, though the other three did not have their guns drawn quite yet.

"You're a fucking traitor and you deserve to fucking hang but that isn't how we operate! Hand over your gun and I won't kill you!" Phoenix's hand was trembling visibly with nerves. He talked a big game but it looked like now that he was face to face with the man he was accusing, he wasn't quite as confident as he sounded.

"You're right." Party Poison nodded his head.

"I-I… am?" Phoenix Fury hadn't anticipated that and his aim faltered.

"This isn't how we operate." Poison walked toward him, grabbed the outstretched gun which let out a blast, grazing his arm through his blue jacket. He pulled him by his gun and kneed him in the gut. Phoenix doubled over, coughing as the wind was knocked out of him by the blow. Poison elbowed the back of the man's neck and howled in pain. The wound on his arm was stinging and burning and his arm practically crumpled in weakness from the blow he'd dished out. Poison let Phoenix drop to the ground and stepped back, his left arm now feeling limp and useless. Two of the three Killjoys who had been with Phoenix ran at him full force and though he struggled and tried to dodge them, they brought him down at the knees after only a moment. The third Killjoy must have helped Phoenix to his feet because as Poison was wrestled to the ground Phoenix approached him.

Poison coughed and gagged as the two Killjoys hit him in the stomach, forcing him to bend over as he'd done to Phoenix. They shoved his face down to the dirt and Poison closed his eyes and turned his face to the side to avoid breaking his nose. He felt a hand in his hair lifting him off of the ground.

"Fucking traitor, you said I was right! Are you that low?" Phoenix looked at him with narrowed eyes. His nose was dripping blood and his forehead was scraped up. Poison had dirt in his nose, his eyes, his mouth. He could taste blood from the lip he must have punctured on the way to the ground. He inhaled, hocked as hard as he could and spat in the man's face with a beautiful spray of dirt and blood.

"Traitor?" Poison coughed once he'd allowed the rest of the dirt in his mouth to drip down his chin. "Look around you asshole… You're the traitors here. What'd you do to my men?"

"Fuck you, you're a liar!' Phoenix aimed his gun at the man who had once been the leader of the Killjoys.

"I'm a liar? Do it then. Shoot me." Poison shoved the two Killjoys off of him who were holding him down and threw his hands to the side. "Fucking shoot me down and find out just how fucking wrong you are. You know what that will make you? A murderer." Phoenix Fury hesitated which was the stupidest thing he could've done in the given situation. If the tables had been turned, Party Poison would've never even had let him talk. This new brand of Killjoy was weak.

"Duck!" Poison didn't hesitate and threw himself on the ground when he heard the yell of someone behind him. Tiger Beatdown didn't want to kill those attacking Party Poison after hearing the exchange, but he had to help his friend. It had taken him a few moments to escape himself from the rebels but since he wasn't as well known here as Poison it hadn't been too difficult. He had found several decent sized rocks and threw them at the Killjoys around Party Poison. It was a stupid attack, but it would give them enough time to at least make their way into the dust to try and escape. Tiger had found a helmet lying on the ground that he planned to shove onto Party Poison to try and disguise his tell tale fiery red hair.

"What the fuck?" Phoenix Fury ducked and covered his head, not wanting to get hit in the face with a rock. Party Poison got up as he felt his friend's hands on his arm.

"What the hell was that Tiger?" Poison looked at him skeptically.

"It was all I could think to do without killing them." Poison nodded knowingly. Tiger offered him the helmet and Poison instead grabbed it and threw it at one of the Killjoys who had begun running after them.

"I'm not fucking hiding. Let these people know just where the fuck I am! I'm not a fucking coward and I'm not a fucking traitor!" Poison was shouting but there was no rash tone to his voice. Tiger understood what was happening. Party Poison wanted them to realize that anyone who really was a traitor would've turned and run by now as far as he could.

"That's great and all, but we need to get to safety! You're no good to anybody dead!"

"Where are Fire Frenzy and the others?" Poison asked as they tried to make their way through the gates and back out of the encampment.

"They ran further into the compound. I couldn't see them after she kicked up all that dust. It's like a fucking wild west, John Wayne nightmare in there!" Tiger coughed and spat to the side.

"Freeze!" Phoenix Fury and three other Killjoys were standing behind them, all aiming their guns. Just outside the gate of the encampment it was easier to see and aim. Poison sighed in annoyance. His arm was still throbbing in pain from the grazed laser blow he'd taken only a few moments prior. Tiger turned but didn't put down his gun. Poison joined him, holding his gun to his side. "Don't fucking move!"

"I'm not fucking moving, idiot. You're becoming redundant!" Poison spat bitterly. He could taste blood, feel it drying and caking on his skin.

"Put down your fucking weapon!" Phoenix Fury was shaking still, but not with nerves, now with anger. He'd had more than enough of this bullshit. "And shut your goddamn mouth! You're not in charge here anymore. I am."

"Really? Because it doesn't look like you are."

"I said shut the fuck up!"

"Fuck you." Tiger joined in, flipping the middle finger at the man facing them. He was losing his cool head. These new Killjoys were irrational and he couldn't get the image of the dead dog in the alleyway the night before out of his mind. "You're wrong about everything! You're swimming in lies!"

"Yeah, like I'm going to believe you!" Phoenix's gaze betrayed his words. He was clearly thinking over what they had said. Poison stepped forward and grabbed Phoenix's wrists, forcing him to aim the ray gun at his chest. Phoenix couldn't hide his surprise at the gesture.

"You're being lied to. So go ahead. If you are still convinced I'm a traitor then shoot me. If not, don't pull the trigger."

"Poison…" Tiger stared at his friend. Those in the standoff fell silent. The only sounds those of the chaos in the camp behind them.

"Hey fucktards!" The sound of engines approached. Tiger winced and covered his eyes as the dirt from the tires of nine or ten motorbikes surrounded them. The opposing Killjoys turned to try and find the source but there was too much dirt flying around. They could see forms on motorbikes but they couldn't make out who they were. The three Killjoys aimed and shot at the figures. One of the bikes flipped and someone fell to the ground. Poison went to run to see who had gotten hurt but was grabbed by Phoenix Fury.

Tiger Beatdown ran instead to pick up the young girl who had flown off of the motorbike and into the dirt. Her helmet was cracked and she seemed dazed but overall alright. Another motorbike stopped nearby and a girl waved to Tiger Beatdown.

"I'm Cosmic Karma! Jet-Star sent us! Hurry!" The woman waved her hand to signal for Tiger to get on the bike. Tiger helped the injured Killjoy onto the back of the bike.

"We'll be close behind! I need to get Poison!" Karma nodded her head in understanding and then hunkered low on her bike after making sure that the woman behind her was holding on tight. She sped up and turned on a dime, aiming right at Poison and Phoenix. At full speed she drove at them forcing Phoenix to either jump out of the way and let Party Poison go or get run over and knock them all to hell.

Phoenix saw them coming and jumped back, tripping and falling to the ground. Party Poison ran backwards to dodge the bike, rose both hands toward Phoenix Fury and flipped him off with both.

"Think about it motherfucker, whose the traitor here?" Poison ran over to Tiger Beatdown who grabbed his arm.

"Are you okay? Your arm is all covered in blood!"

"It's fine, let's go!" Poison knew they wouldn't have a chance getting into the camp this way so he ran over to the bikers who were stopping for them.

"Jet-Star sent them!" Tiger shouted over the roar of the bikes that were still zooming around the Killjoys to distract them long enough to allow them to escape. Poison nodded and watched as one of the male Killjoys got off of his bike and handed the keys to him.

"Neon Rocket sir, take this one!"

"Thanks Rocket." Party Poison recognized the name but couldn't tell who he was with the bandana around his face, the dirt covered mask and helmet on his head. Poison got on the bike quickly and turned the key. Tiger Beatdown climbed on behind him and they sped off amongst the other bikes, Neon Rocket leading the way with the Killjoy he now shared a bike with.

* * *

><p>Disco Bitch led Agent Alpaca and Fire Frenzy through the encampment, trying their best to stay low and keep out of the fray that was quickly turning into a riot. The guard tower that Frenzy had knocked down had kicked up so much dust that it was hard to avoid running into people. Disco's knuckles were raw from punching people out of the way and clearing a path through the people who were running all over trying to find the "intruders".<p>

"Where's Tiger?" Agent Alpaca yelled over the chaos, stopping their run by grabbing Disco's arm. Frenzy looked uncomfortable standing still and her hand was on the large flamethrower she'd removed from the strap she had it attached to on her back. Disco Bitch was only mildly concerned that the woman would set everything in front of her on fire at the slightest provocation. Right now she had to be more concerned for the whereabouts of their friends. Disco looked around. _I could've sworn he was behind me_.

"Where's Poison?" Frenzy chimed in, standing with her back to them both. "He didn't follow us. I was just talking to him and he disappeared."

"Shit, where did they go? What if they got them?" Alpaca cursed, shoving his hands into his chocolate brown hair. "We have to find them, we have to go back!"

"They wouldn't go back, they'd only head deeper into the heart of the camp." Disco Bitch instructed, continuing on her walk. Alpaca grabbed her wrist again and she wriggled free from it quickly.

"What makes you so superior? We can't just leave them-"

"You're not listening to me! No one knows this place better than Party Poison and if he hasn't made his way out of here then he's trying to gain control and find the leader!" Disco hissed.

"Hey, children." Frenzy walked over to the two who hadn't even noticed that she had disappeared for a few moments. Both looked at her as though they weren't sure how to respond to the remark. "I found something, but it's not your precious leaders." Frenzy walked away, creeping around the backside of one of the buildings, trying to avoid anyone who might recognize the Killjoys she was with. The likelihood that anyone here knew her was slim to none and she could escape far easier than the other two could.

"Was she serious?" Disco whispered to Alpaca who rolled his eyes at her. The two hurried behind her and saw her peering around the corner of the building, holding her flamethrower ahead of her.

In a pen that looked like it had once held some animals were a number of Killjoys, bound and gagged. They looked older and worse for wear than the ones standing with their guns at the ready.

"Where's your precious leader now, huh?" The six Killjoys surrounding the group of ten captives laughed. One of the captives mumbled something against their gag. "Oh what was that?" The tallest of the group, with a completely shaven head walked up to the one who had mumbled. The man was shooting daggers with his eyes at the younger Killjoys holding him and his friends hostage. He removed the gag. "Why don't you go ahead and say that to my face, old man?"

"You're a disgrace." The man's voice sounded raw, whether it was from some prior injury or from being gagged they'd never know. The Killjoy smacked his captive with the back of his hand and blood splattered to the ground. The Killjoys kicked the older man to the ground, his foot pounding into his chest, enough to knock the wind out of him. The Killjoy walked around him slowly, cracking his knuckles, his peers snickering under their breath as though amused. He put his boot on the man's throat and they could see the other captives struggling to try to get free to assist their fallen comrade.

"Say that again, you bitch."

"You're a fucking… disgrace."

"I can't watch this!" Alpaca hissed under his breath, turning away from the scene as they heard a chorus of distressed sounds from the group behind them. Frenzy watched the Killjoy break the man's jaw with his foot. She'd expected him to crush the man's throat but he seemed to grow squeamish in the last moment. _They talk a big game, but they seem to bail out when it comes to real danger_.

"We need to get out of here before they catch us too." Disco Bitch hardened her jaw. She hadn't looked away from the scene of horror in front of her. Everything inside of her was telling her to run to the man's aid but it was more important to make sure they got their leaders out of there alive.

"We need to do something! We can't let them just sit there and be tortured by these assholes!" Alpaca objected. His conscience wasn't okay with sitting idly by and watching these men be tormented. Even if they walked away he'd still know it was their fault they didn't save them.

"That is a terrible, _terrible_ idea." Fire Frenzy turned away from the scene and crept into the building they hid behind, making sure that no one was inside of it first. Almost everyone was running around the camp in chaos either trying to find the intruders or trying to find their way out. In the fray, weapons had been dropped. Frenzy had resisted the urge to pick them all up on the way through the camp but now seemed as good a time as ever to stock up. The more weapons they had the better their chances at arming any allies they came across.

"They're suffering! They're defending our cause! Look at them! They're in pajamas, half dressed… They had no warning! This isn't right! We can't just leave them behind." Alpaca argued, trying his best to sound logical. Disco put a ginger hand on his shoulder and stopped his ranting.

"Fire Frenzy's right. We're no good to them bound and gagged! If we find Tiger and Poison then we can come back full force and save them all. Right now we need to think about what's best for the future." Alpaca shoved her hand off of his arm.

"You're wrong! We can't leave them like this." Alpaca peeked over at the man they had left on the ground who was coughing up his own blood. "He's going to choke to death just lying like that. Can you really live with that?" Disco Bitch didn't respond and contemplated the risk of running out there to at least help the man to his feet.

"Oh shut up." Frenzy rolled her eyes at him and walked out from behind the building. "If it means that much to you…" She was tired of arguing about it. It was a bad idea. They were going to catch them, there'd be no way for them to win. Even if they overpowered those holding the Killjoys captive they'd draw attention to themselves and reinforcements would undoubtedly come for them. "Heads down Killjoys!" She pulled out her ray gun and fired a few haphazard shots around at the rebels who were holding the Killjoys hostage. A few of them were so confused they didn't exactly know how to respond. Agent Alpaca and Disco Bitch stared in disbelief for only a moment before jumping into action after her.

"I _like_ her." Alpaca smirked. "She doesn't mess around, does she?"

"You're an idiot." Disco Bitch muttered as she blocked a punch from a Killjoy. They were going to be outnumbered and quickly. Agent Alpaca ran over to the Killjoy on the ground and helped him to his feet, untying his bonds.

"Get out of here. Hurry, out of the camp as fast as you can!" The Killjoy nodded and gripped Agent Alpaca's hand tightly for just a moment as a sign of gratitude. He limped away into the cover of the dust but Alpaca fell to the ground as he felt someone practically tackle him to the ground. To his left he could see Disco Bitch on her stomach being tied down with her arms behind her back. She was glaring at him as if to tell him it was his fault.

"Fuck, hold her down!" Frenzy had pulled her knife on the Killjoys that were coming for her which she found to be a mistake since she could have used it once they had gotten the best of her to break free of her bonds. Now that they were aware of her knife, she couldn't keep it hidden any longer in her boot.

"Let go of me!" She hissed as she swung at the man trying to grab her arms to pin her down. It didn't take more than a moment for them to get her under control. She was tough but she was also too small to overtake three men much larger than her. In a matter of moments they had been moved further into the camp and tied together back to back under the guard of four younger tough looking Killjoys. Time seemed to crawl forward after that. The dust was starting to settle around them and it was clear that the leaders of the Killjoys hadn't been captured.

After a few hours of working on it Frenzy had managed to remove her gag. She turned to look the best that she could at Agent Alpaca who she knew was on her right.

"I told you this was a terrible idea." She almost gloated. Alpaca mumbled in response but spit out his gag after a moment.

"You're the one who went in guns blazing!"

"You were going to do it anyway. At least you didn't go in alone like Disco would have let you." Frenzy shook her head and then lifted her hands the best that she could. The rope had left marks on her wrists with how she'd been wriggling to try and get free of it. She brought it to her teeth and started to gnaw on it. It could take days to get through it this way, but it was the best idea she had at the moment.

"He would've died if we hadn't helped!" Alpaca muttered, glaring at the Killjoys who stood in front of them, backs turned.

"Whatever, you saved him so you can quit your bitching." Disco chimed in though her voice was obscured by part of the gag she hadn't managed to maneuver away from her mouth yet. "What the hell happened here? Who are these Killjoys? They're not from the west are they?"

"I've never seen any of them before. So that's likely a no." Alpaca shrugged and watched Frenzy chewing on her bonds. She didn't seem at all interested in their conversation. "They're the same Killjoys from the second zone aren't they?"

"Yeah, I guess they'd have to be. Do you believe Party Poison now? Is this the sufficient proof you needed? To be wrestled down by rebels and tied up before you would admit that you were wrong?"

"Hey, hey don't get snippy with me." Alpaca spat at the ground. His throat was dry and raw from the lack of hydration. He guessed their captors likely weren't going to feed them any time soon. They had three days before they'd be dead if they didn't break free. "You two were far too willing to believe him! You think I like arguing with you? You think that I wanted Party Poison to turn?"

"I do! You don't want to trust anyone because that would mean you'd have to let someone else make the decisions. You've questioned your superior since the moment I met you! Why do you follow him if you don't trust his judgment?"

"Excuse me? I do trust him. I trust Tiger Beatdown with my life, he's my best friend but I am not a fucking drone. I'm not a slave to my leader. If you disagree with my way of thinking so much then why the hell didn't you kill Tiger Beatdown in the desert?"

"I was told he was a traitor! It didn't fly with what I saw!"

"Yeah, well you didn't do exactly what Party Poison ordered you to do now did you? You used your own damn judgment to decide that Tiger didn't deserve a bullet!"

"It's not the same!"

"It's exactly the same! It's exactly the fucking same! I came with you didn't I? I fought with you didn't I? If no one were to challenge your opinion and Poison ended up being the traitor I thought he was then what would you have done? I'd rather risk being wrong than let you walk blindly into danger!" Disco didn't respond. She hadn't thought about it that way. She had been convinced that Agent Alpaca was just being a dick because he didn't like her or trust her. It had never once crossed her mind that he had been just protecting them.

"I'm sorry." She whispered after a moment. Alpaca shrugged his shoulders again and received an irritated elbowing from Fire Frenzy. "This though, this was _really_ a terrible idea."

"I know. I shouldn't have even suggested it." Alpaca laughed a bit. It was hard to keep up a sense of humor given the circumstances.

"We have to get out of here." Disco Bitch sighed. "We should've just run for it. It was stupid to come further into the camp."

"Yeah it was."

"Though, we wouldn't have gotten captured if it hadn't been for you and your stupid ideas."

"Yeah well you weren't coming up with anything brilliant either so unless you have something to contribute, I'd shut up."

"To be fair, Fire Frenzy _was_ the one who ran in guns blazing."

"Yeah, I wasn't going to say it but I agreed with Agent Alpaca on this one. If you must know." Frenzy muttered between chewing on the rope.

"You said that it was a terrible idea!" Disco widened her eyes.

"It was a terrible idea. I didn't say that I disagreed with it."

"She has a point." Agent Alpaca couldn't help but smile a little bit. It faded after a moment. He still didn't like Disco Bitch, he didn't trust her. Something didn't feel right and he only had guesses at what it could be. Fire Frenzy though didn't seem to be hiding much of anything though he guessed that if she had the chance she'd leave them there bound and gagged.

"Oh shut up. If you hadn't suggested it she would've sided with me." Disco Bitch rolled her eyes.

"You wanted to run like a coward."

"Not like a coward! I was thinking ahead! We are no use to anyone now!"

"You weren't much use to anyone before this, either."

"Fuck off, I've saved your life more times than I can count now!"

"I don't owe you shit and I definitely don't _need_ anyone's help."

"Don't start with me again, Alpaca. God, just when I thought that you were actually turning around a bit to see eye to eye with me!" Disco continued ranting before Alpaca could get a word in edgewise. "To think for a moment I thought you were a good guy, here you are turning on that stubborn bullshit again!"

"Oh shut it." Alpaca rolled his eyes and just sat and listened, knowing he couldn't stop her ranting now.

"I'm not a coward! Not because I thought that coming back with full forces to save everyone was a better idea than sacrificing our only chance at escape to save one person!"

"So it was okay to sacrifice one life to save the multitudes huh?"

"Yes, and who's to say he would've died? He could've been just fine!"

"Now you sound like Better Living."

"What?" Disco Bitch nearly shrieked in anger at being compared to the company they fought so hard against. If she hadn't been bound she would've just started pounding Agent Alpaca in the face.

"Hey, you shut the fuck up in there!" One of their guards turned back around to see all three of them having removed their gags. He walked over to Disco Bitch and shoved her gag back in her mouth and tied it tighter than before. He didn't bother with Frenzy who was feigning sleep or with Agent Alpaca who was tight lipped and looked like he might bite if they came near him. Disco mumbled in frustration, continuing to rant against the gag and stomped her feet in the dirt, starting to thrash against her bonds in a mad attempt to break free of them. She'd never been so mad, at least not that she could remember. Once she got the chance, Agent Alpaca was going to be put in his place.

"At least someone shut you up." Agent Alpaca couldn't help but taunt her a little bit. Disco groaned against her gag and nudged into him angrily.

"Hey, I'm trying to do something. God you guys are rude." Frenzy shoved at them both.

There was yelling in front of them and all three turned in an attempt to look but closed their eyes and coughed as smoke overwhelmed them at once. It wasn't dust as it had been earlier, but clearly some kind of smoke. Fire Frenzy guessed it was a smoke grenade and forced her eyes open but they blurred and watered immediately. She heard a struggle and could see the forms of the guards that had been watching them starting to slump to the ground.

"What the hell?" Alpaca coughed and attempted to hide his mouth and nose down against his chest from the smoke but it didn't work.

A figure clad in black emerged through the smoke and walked over to Fire Frenzy since she was the closest.

"Don't mind if I accidentally grope you." A smooth voice said in almost a taunting sort of way. She felt nimble fingers working on the ties of her bonds. "It's too tight, I'll just cut it. Let me know if I prick you."

"Frenzy? What's going on?" Alpaca asked. Disco was mumbling similar things against her gag.

"I think someone's flirting with me. I can't tell. I've never been very good at such things." Frenzy shrugged and heard the stranger laugh in response.

"I'll flirt with you. And your friend over there. But let's get out of here first." Her bonds came free after a moment of cutting. He cut the rope between her feet and offered her a gentlemanly hand.

"Thanks." Frenzy took it and stood up then dusted herself off. She didn't mind this man. He seemed like he had a good outlook on things and he had saved them, after all.

"Now for this pretty lady." The stranger walked over to Disco Bitch and cut the gag off from the back of her neck, gently cupping her chin as he did so to make sure she didn't squirm. "Hold still pretty thing." He smiled as he leaned close to her.

"Who the fuck are you?" Disco asked now that she could finally talk. Her jaw was sore from the gag so she stretched it as the man started to cut at the bonds on her wrists and arms.

"Black Cherrybomb." He looked up at her as he snapped the bond around her ankles. Disco stood up and saw Fire Frenzy picking up their weapons that had been left behind with the guards. She didn't look at all interested in the newcomer. "Don't worry, I'm here to help. I saw what's been happening here and figured I'd see if I could help anyone out."

"You a Killjoy?" Disco took his hand and stood up from her spot on the ground. He was handsome, messy black hair over his olive colored skin and those beautiful Asian eyes staring back at her. He was wearing a black cat-suit with a slim black tie hanging around his neck and over his torso since the cat suit was unzipped rather low.

"More of a mercenary." Cherrybomb nodded his head. "There's no time for proper introductions, we need to get out of here before they realize what I've done. They seem pretty proud of themselves for capturing you from what I've heard."

"Hey, hey let me out too! You can't fucking leave me here!"

"I heard the way you were talking to the lady and I'm not sure that I can stand your company right now. I think perhaps you should learn a lesson from this. Women aren't to be treated in such a way, even in this day and age." Cherrybomb didn't even turn to look at Agent Alpaca.

"Disco, tell him, come on, you can't really leave me here." Agent Alpaca was actually starting to get nervous that they would leave him here to surely die.

"You heard the man. You were rude to me. You deserve to learn a lesson." Disco grabbed her weapon and dusted herself off as she mimicked Black Cherrybomb. Her wrists were sore but they weren't raw like she could see Frenzy's were.

Fire Frenzy slumped her shoulders as she watched the display. _I don't have the time for this bullshit_. _I should've never followed that hazel eyed devil._ She mumbled something underneath her breath about this being petty and ridiculous then flipped the knife back out from her boot and walked over to Agent Alpaca.

"Thank you." He sighed in relief as she freed him from his bonds.

"That was noble of you." Black Cherrybomb nodded and then offered his arms to both the women. "Shall we go?"

"Cut the crap." Frenzy walked past him and then grabbed Alpaca's gun which she tossed back to the man who caught it gladly. Alpaca walked past Disco Bitch without a second glance. She'd almost left him to the wolves. "We have to get out of here. I'm warning you now, don't slow me down."

"After you, milady." Cherrybomb smirked. He looked hungry for the action escaping could bring him.


	11. Escape, Before Hope is Lost

About three miles from the gates of the eastern Killjoy camp a group of fifty or so people were sitting around mending their wounds. Party Poison and Tiger Beatdown got off of the bike and gave it to one of the Killjoys waiting for them. He was offered a hug from Cosmic Karma as she got off of her bike.

"It's good to have you alive and well, sir." She backed up after a moment, bowing her head respectfully. Poison couldn't help but smile just a little bit at the gesture.

"It's good to be here." He saw Jet-Star approaching them and jogged over to him quickly. "Jet-Star, shit! You look like hell!" He laughed and grabbed the man's hand in a gesture of friendly greeting. Tiger Beatdown followed along, amazed at the amount of wounded surrounding them.

"We thought for sure you'd been killed in the riots in the second zone."

"You got word of that huh?"

"Yeah, very quickly." Jet-Star looked grim. "You're bleeding. Come on, sit with me and tell me what the hell happened."

"Only if you return the gesture. How did the camp get overrun? What the hell is going on?" Poison walked with him and then stopped. "This is Tiger Beatdown, sorry I didn't mean to leave you out."

"Leader of the western Killjoys, good lord I haven't seen you in years. I thought you'd gone traitor on us." Jet-Star was clearly confused by this new development. He'd thought that the Killjoys had been from the west, like the ones that had attacked him only a few days prior.

"We, apparently, have a lot to catch up on." Tiger smiled though his mind was still in the camp. What had happened to his new friends? He had a feeling Party Poison was agonizing over the same thing so he didn't bring it up but said a silent prayer for Agent Alpaca to take care of Disco Bitch for him. He didn't doubt her ability to take care of herself, he just worried for her for reasons unknown to him. _I can't help it._ They sat down in the dirt in front of a tent that had been recently erected to house the wounded. Party Poison slipped his torn blue jacket off and set it down. His arm had already started to clot and though it throbbed painfully the pain let him know he was alive so he didn't mind it.

"Why don't you let Neon Rocket take a look at that? He got in just before you did." Jet-Star nodded toward the wound on Poison's arm. Neon Rocket knelt down next to him and started to look at the wound as well as the various others he'd received during battle. He had to have looked frightening with the amount of blood and dirt caked to him. The medic looked worse for wear himself now that he could see him outside of the dirt. It seemed as though he'd been tending to the sick and hadn't had sleep or eaten in a good long while.

"No, go rest Rocket." Poison nodded his head. "I'll worry about it once we've figured this out. There are things more important than flesh wounds."

"He's right." Tiger knew that if Poison really needed medical attention he'd ask for it. Right now getting to the bottom of the chaos in the distance was more important.

"What the fuck happened?" Poison leaned forward on his knees and looked at his weather-worn friend.

"Well, when you left to go to the second zone yesterday… All hell broke loose. It's hard to even describe to you. It happened so fast!" Jet-Star pushed his unruly brown hair out of his face to no avail.

"Well, try to. Even just a good idea of what happened is more than I have right now."

"A Killjoy showed up at the gate… Real tough looking. He was holding the American flag and we greeted him and asked for his dog tag as we always do." Jet-Star looked as though he were struggling to remember the details. "I only joined the fray after Fun Ghoul started screaming. Apparently it was an ambush. Young Killjoys, who I thought were from the West," he looked knowingly toward Tiger Beatdown who didn't interrupt, "stormed the camp and just started tying people up. They had more force than we did. Half our troops were still sleeping, or recovering from that last trip I took into the desert. I'm still wounded too and was in no condition to fight."

"You told me he was attacked by Killjoys from the west, right. Just a few days ago? And that's what confirmed you to send an assassin after me." Tiger nodded his head to Poison, recalling the conversation they'd had overnight.

"Right, at least that's where we thought they were from. It wasn't a mortal wound, but he needed to rest up. Jet-Star's a pretty practiced medic so he was able to save a good amount of the wounded that day." Poison reassured him.

"Yeah, that was nasty but this was way worse. Poison I knew some of these Killjoys… These were Killjoys we'd thought were dead. Killjoys that had disappeared in the desert to never return. Some of them were at least, not all of them. If I could find a list of the ghosted I could tell you just which ones were there. There was a group of much younger men and women and they were all following some high-on-his-pedestal Killjoy."

"Let me guess: green hair, vest, tattoos, real big fucking sense of superiority? He had big fucking arm muscles like the size of my fucking head right?" Poison scoffed remembering the man who he'd stood off with in the camp. "Called himself Phoenix Fury, if I recall."

"Yeah, I take it you met." Jet-Star gave a forced smile. "Gave you some souvenirs of his meeting huh?"

"Yeah, he sure did. I gave him a few too." Poison held up his fist to show his bloodied knuckles.

"Good, I hope you put that pompous ass in his place."

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure he was such a bad guy." Poison sighed heavily. "I gave him the chance to kill me and he didn't. I think they might be just as confused as we are."

"It's true. He heard what you had to say. Maybe he'll reconsider." Tiger Beatdown agreed.

"What I don't get is who the hell told them I'm a traitor? Who the fuck would spread that shit? Anyone who really knows me knows I would _never_ betray the Killjoys."

"I don't know. I hadn't heard the accusations until we were overrun. I knew they couldn't be true so I led the wounded here the best that I could. We've been friends for years Poison, I'd know if you were a traitor." Jet-Star sighed in relief. "We were unprepared Poison. It was startling how fast we were taken over. It was hard to tell the difference between the enemy and our men."

"They were Killjoys!" Tiger added. "You couldn't be expected to think that they would attack you. We're supposed to be brothers in arms, not enemies. You let them in, I'm sure, anticipating that they were there for shelter for the night, not that they'd attack you."

"It's true. I stayed around long enough to hear the new guy making a speech about how they were taking over and starting a new Killjoy regime. He gave our Killjoys a chance to turn themselves over or be taken as hostages."

"No one did, right?" Poison grimaced, only asking because he hoped he'd hear something to give him some faith in his people. Jet-Star hung his head as he talked, giving Poison his answer before he even opened his mouth.

"It was disheartening to see how quickly they turned on the cause. The truly loyal were so few and the obedient were so many we stood no chance." Poison cursed under his breath. The Killjoys were falling apart and there was nothing he could do.

"The Killjoys weren't from the west." Tiger chimed in, seeing his friend having a hard time finding words that weren't obscene.

"Well then where were they from?" Jet-Star furrowed his brow in thought. "We know these zones better than the Dracs do. Where could they have been hiding?"

"I don't know. But all I can tell you is that it wasn't my men. I was ambushed the day before all of this started by Dracs in the west after receiving a tip that I'd find supplies. I think that there have been plants in the camps for longer than any of us could have imagined."

"So you think they're working right under our noses?" Jet-Star looked as eager to figure this out as the rest of them did. He winced as he leaned forward, his wound being on his stomach. It was still sore but not bleeding.

"I think they were. Partially at least. All the false reports and accusations seem to be coming from within our regime." Tiger put his hands to his temples and rubbed. His head was starting to pound from lack of sleep and stress. "All this time we were pointing fingers at each other…"

"We wasted days blaming the wrong people." Poison spoke in a quiet but angry voice. "We should've been looking more into the people making the accusations rather than into those they were being made against. Are we that predictable? We did exactly what they wanted us to do."

"Don't blame yourself…" Jet-Star began, having a feeling he knew where this was going. Party Poison was notorious for taking the burden of punishment on his shoulders and wearing it heavily.

"What? Are you out of your mind? Don't blame myself? We've become complacent! Content to trust those around us because they talk a big game, because they wear the same masks we wear! We're as bad as the Dracs, following blindly because it's easier than doing the dirty work! I've let us fall into complacency!" It was the only word that seemed to fit.

"Poison calm down…" Tiger went to comfort his friend but Poison got up from his spot and spoke louder.

"No, we're just as much to blame as anyone else! Maybe these new guys are right. Maybe we did turn our backs on our cause. How many of our Killjoys do you actually know Tiger? Jet-Star?" Both men stayed silent. It was likely that together they couldn't list even half of their members.

"That's what I thought."

"Just because they were right about a few things doesn't make us traitors. We still believe in a cause. Just because we were trusting of our members, doesn't make us evil. It makes us willing to believe that there's good in everyone! It makes us have faith! There's nothing wrong with it." Tiger got to his feet and pointed a finger at Poison. "You won't be giving up on this, I won't let you. I don't want to hear any talk of you resigning, or leaving!"

"You think I'm going to just run off like some coward? You have that little faith in me?" Poison scoffed. "Hey, all of you fuckers! Listen the fuck up because I'm only saying this once. We're going to gather forces, we're going to take back that fucking camp and we're going to start this from scratch! No one will be trusted, trust will be earned. Everyone will be presumed an enemy and disloyal until they have proven otherwise! We will stand united, or not at all!" The area around them grew quiet, all staring at Party Poison. "And I'm done pussyfooting around the Dracs. It's fucking time we took some action! We'll get it together, we'll stop this fucking nightmare in Battery City. We won't be hiding in the zones any longer! And that fuck, Fury? He's not leading anyone."

"That's the Party Poison I love." Tiger threw his arm around Poison's shoulder who winced and leaned to one side to keep the pressure off of his wounded arm.

"Are you with me? This is everyone's last chance to back the fuck out and leave!" Poison looked around at people who slowly nodded to agree and eventually started to cheer in their support. Jet-Star got to his feet.

"We're with you Poison. We always have been." Jet-Star and Tiger Beatdown urged Poison to sit back on the ground. "You're right. After watching our Killjoys bend to whoever was the strongest yesterday… things have got to change."

"Damn straight." Poison was exhausted and worried. Fire Frenzy and the others hadn't made it out of the camp. He had a feeling that Jet-Star had men watching the entrances at all sides to look for escapees. He'd seen a few people being led in after him and Tiger Beatdown but none were the three he was hoping for.

"What the hell happened in the second zone?" Jet-Star was curious and wanted to be filled in so he waited until the excitement of the crowd died down. He turned away for a moment and grabbed the wrist of a passing Killjoy. "Would you get something small to eat for Tiger and Poison? I know they're going to object but they look drained."

"Of course." The Killjoy walked out of sight to do as he was told, looking proud to do so.

"I went looking for an arsonist and was attacked by Killjoys, accused of this same bullshit they've been throwing around here in the camp. I ran into Alpaca, was attacked by Korse and saved by the arsonist." Poison shrugged, summarizing it as quickly as he could. There was no need to include _why_ he'd been following the arsonist.

"It's obviously far more complex than that. Disco Bitch saw I wasn't a traitor and tried to organize a meeting with Poison but he never got the message." Tiger Beatdown added onto the story to let him know what had happened in the west. "She'd been sent to kill me after the accusations from Kobra Kid."

"Wait, that reminds me. Where's my brother?" Poison perked up, hoping that Kobra Kid had made it out of the fray.

"Last time I saw Kobra he was complaining of a fever. That was awhile ago though." Jet-Star reported. "He came to me after you left and I took his temperature and confirmed he had one. He went to lie down and I haven't seen him since."

"Shit. He's probably still in the camp."

"The good news is that they weren't executing Killjoys." Jet-Star held up his hands in a reassuring manner, not wanting to see Party Poison start to panic. "They were preaching non-lethal tactics and offering peace for those who stayed behind. If Kobra Kid is still there I'm sure he's alive and well." Party Poison didn't seem relieved at all. He wanted to be able to protect his baby brother.

"We'll get to him. We can't just run back in there with fifty people. Half of you are injured already."

"We can't go without a plan either." Tiger shook his head. He wasn't good at battle strategy so he knew he shouldn't be left in charge of it. "Any strategists make it out of there?"

"Not a single one." Jet-Star nodded to the Killjoy who came with two bowls of stew in thanks. "Eat up, you must be starving. I imagine you haven't taken time to really eat or drink much of anything."

"I'm not going to say no. I'm starving. You're right, we haven't eaten properly in a long time. At least I know I haven't since I heard about Tiger going turncoat." Poison took the bowl and saw Tiger do the same. They hadn't realized how hungry they were until they were devouring the food in front of them. They refused to sleep or take care of any wounds until they had heard from their friends they'd been traveling with.

* * *

><p>It had been hard to be stealthy with so many people creeping around the Killjoy camp. Luckily things still seemed to be in a bustle due to the chaos that had happened a few hours earlier. The four had made it halfway to the front of the camp. They could see the gates and the fallen guard tower which hadn't been attended to completely. There was a group of Killjoys assessing the damage and they'd have to walk right past them to be able to escape unharmed.<p>

"There's no way we'll make it past them." Disco whispered.

"Even a distraction wouldn't work here. Too much open space…" Black Cherrybomb put away the smoke grenades he'd been toying with since they had stopped behind this building. "Is there another way out of here? Maybe one that's less guarded and in the middle of the camp where everyone can see us?"

"There are several exits but I'm guessing they're going to be blocked off. This is the only open one and that's because the guard tower collapsed and broke the gate."

"The wall's too high to climb over. Even if we got to the top, jumping off could risk breaking a leg at the bottom. We can't really escape on broken limbs." Agent Alpaca mused. He wasn't going to risk breaking a bone when the only person he thought he could rely on here wasn't in her right mind. He looked around and couldn't see her immediately. "Where did Fire Frenzy go now?"

"What?" Disco looked around just as curious. "There she is!" She whispered and pointed toward a building not too far back. She had obviously stopped before they had.

Frenzy was crouched low, holding her flamethrower close to her and listening to a group of Killjoys speaking in hushed tones around a fire. They were cooking some kind of meat on the end of sticks. She could see the fat dripping into the fire, fueling it and causing it to spark and smoke. She'd only stopped because she had heard them mention Party Poison and she was curious to what they were really thinking of him. She wasn't completely clear on what had been going on but from what she could tell, the things that they had been accusing the man of weren't true.

"I heard he's been putting the new recruits through _initiation_… Taking advantage of women and men alike." A young female Killjoy shivered in disgust. Fire Frenzy made a face, even though she thought the man was a pig she didn't see him so desperate for attention in a bar if he could get it free from Killjoys in his camp.

"I hear he's an addict too and to some heavy shit."

"I know he used to be, but he kicked that habit." One of the older Killjoys who looked skeptical of the accusations chimed in.

"Not from what I've heard. I hear he's been trading Killjoy secrets for drugs to feed his habit."

"I've seen him with the bottles, it wouldn't surprise me if he really was."

"To think I believed him… I heard he's been letting some of the other leaders in on his sexual deviance to now. Some of the older generals, like Kobra and Jet-Star."

"Oh come on, he wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't he? You know you've heard the rumors."

"Sure, he's a pervert sometimes but never to the Killjoys."

"Are you _defending_ him?"

"No, I'm just saying we really shouldn't be gossiping. I don't like accusing people of shit without proper proof." Frenzy agreed with that entirely. At least they weren't all insane. Maybe she could reason with them. She stood up and went to interrupt to put them in their place or at least talk some sense into them. She didn't like what Party Poison did but he'd been completely honest with her when they were locked underground hiding from the Scarecrow. She could put them in their place and maybe make enough of a distraction to allow the others to escape. Frenzy was good at getting out of sticky situations, she'd be able to find her way out eventually or burn everyone to the ground in the process.

"What are you doing?" Disco hissed grabbing one of her arms. Frenzy shoved her off and felt Cherrybomb grabbed her other arm.

"Don't do it, they're not worth it." The man assured her. Alpaca stood nearby in case Frenzy tried to bolt. They didn't need to get caught all over again. He wasn't sure they'd keep them alive a second time.

"They're trading lies, someone needs to set them straight." Frenzy looked distressed and angered that they were holding her back. "Plus a few of them don't seem to entirely believe what's going on here." They stopped as they heard the Killjoys in front of them, as if looking for proof of what Frenzy had accused them of.

"I heard that Poison sent an assassin after Tiger Beatdown. How much do you want to bet that they're in this together?"

"Right, next they'd probably be starting some kind of sex trade with the orphans."

"I heard they're thieves, stealing for their own profit while we suffer without food, while orphans die at the hands of the Dracs!"

"They're pigs. Poison propositioned me the other day…" Disco Bitch didn't finish listening as the girl told her tale that was clearly all bogus. They all knew Party Poison had issues but he'd never abuse any of the Killjoys or anyone for that matter. Everything Poison did was completely consensual as far as she knew.

"Go get 'em." She let go of Fire Frenzy's arm and Cherrybomb did too. He didn't believe in what the Killjoys did in general, but he wasn't going to let them be talked about like this. The organization was overall benevolent. Anyone with any sense could see the passion in their leaders. Disco Bitch knew a few of the Killjoys and was disappointed at how quickly they'd turned. Even those who had been disagreeing only moments ago seemed to be changing their opinions.

Fire Frenzy brushed off her arms, holstered her gun, and grabbed a can of gasoline which was close to the fire, she could tell by the smell of the fire that it was what they had used to fuel it. Frenzy removed the gas cap and started spilling the gasoline in her wake as she approached the Killjoys.

"Who the hell are you?" One of the men pointed his gun at her but she didn't seem thrown off by it.

"So you think your leader's turned on you do you? Do any of you have any _actual_ proof?" She spoke loudly and kept walking around the circle of Killjoys who were all reaching for their guns but not shooting. They seemed to want to hear her out. "That's how fast you turn on your brothers? He led you yesterday didn't he and today you trust someone else?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Another Killjoy repeated their demand, getting to his feet. She walked to him and shoved at his shoulder.

"Sit the fuck down. I've seen a lot of complacent assholes making accusations in the last week and I've done enough sitting idly by and listening. If you thought your leader was corrupt why did you follow him to begin with? Hmm?" No one responded to her.

Disco Bitch listened to Frenzy talk for a moment and then started to look around for something. There was a pile of debris behind the building. The cleanup crew must have decided to dump the broken bits of the guard tower there. Disco grabbed an armful of wooden debris, and anything else she thought was flammable. She began to creep around in Fire Frenzy's wake, smelling out where the gasoline was. She laid down bits of the debris in the gasoline, hoping it would catch when Frenzy eventually lit the match that would send the gas up in flames.

"Don't…" Alpaca grabbed her arm as she came back for more. "She's creating a diversion, she's giving us a chance to go. We should leave while they're distracted."

"I'm not leaving her here. Not to those pigs."

"But you would've left me with them?"

"I was only going to let you stew for a minute and learn your lesson…" Disco hissed. "Then I would've come back for you. It was a joke Alpaca." Agent Alpaca let her go as she continued to grab more wooden debris.

"If you didn't like how he was running things you should've gotten off of your lazy asses and told him so. You think he's unreasonable? Overpower him. He's one man, you are ten, at least here sitting around the fire. You're cowardice consumes you doesn't it? You follow whatever or whoever's strongest right? A bunch of loyal worker bees buzzing along in whatever way you can to keep out of the fray. You like to talk a big game but when it comes down to actually making a difference and fighting the fight, you'd rather someone else do the dirty work. Even now, you point your guns at me but you don't pull the trigger. You're all secretly hoping that someone else will do it and shut me up so you don't have to hate the face you'll see in the mirror before bed tonight."

"You have no right…" Another Killjoy began in a wary voice that suggested she spoke the truth.

"You're just as bad as the Dracs… At least they have an excuse. At least we know they're so brainwashed no logic could ever reach them. You're all pathetic." Frenzy dropped the can of gasoline, feeling that it had become empty a few moments prior. She had gasoline on her feet and her hands. When she set the match she'd catch fire like half of the fuckers in front of her. Some of the Killjoys were dropping their weapons but others were cocking them and preparing to aim and fire. "You might as well go back to Battery City… Take the drugs, work each day in a factory for a life dictated by Better Living. You claim to be Killjoys? You're the reason that people don't trust them to begin with. Fucking weak traitors, the whole lot of you."

Black Cherrybomb could see what Disco Bitch was thinking and pulled Alpaca back and whispered to him. "She's helping, get ready to run okay?" Alpaca nodded his head though he was unclear as to what was happening.

"Her legs are covered in the gasoline." Disco returned to Alpaca and Cherrybomb. "You have to be quick. Black Cherrybomb crept up behind Fire Frenzy, watching her give her speech.

Frenzy was backing up. _She's smarter than I thought_. She knew she'd catch if she stood too close to the gasoline she was lighting.

"I'm going to teach you all a lesson. Maybe after this you'll rethink yourselves. Maybe after this you'll change. I doubt it, but everyone gets one chance before I kill them." The Killjoys rose and fired but Frenzy ducked and flicked her lighter and hit the gasoline trail on the ground, her netted gloves catching on fire at the same time. She clapped her hands together to put out the fire then yelped in surprise as Black Cherrybomb lifted her off of her feet and pulled her away from the fire. He put her down after he got far enough away from the flames to make sure she wouldn't catch. The blaze had instantly spread around the group of Killjoys and to several buildings around the area. Frenzy was staring with wide eyes at the beautiful flames, but not bewitched by them like she was with the fire coming from her lighter. She hadn't thought that so much would catch on fire when she'd set the path of gasoline.

"I added some kindling… You know to give you time to escape too." Disco smirked and squeezed Frenzy's shoulder. "Let's get the fuck out of here!" Frenzy couldn't help but smile at how big the fire was and how her plan had worked out so well. She hadn't anticipated making it out so easily herself, but this was as good as any other way. She much preferred to avoid torture and captivity if she could.

"You guys are fucking crazy." Black Cherrybomb said as they made their way out of the camp. The fire had sufficiently caused enough chaos that nearly every Killjoy in the camp was trying to put it out now, giving them plenty of opportunity to make their way past the few guards that remained at the front gate. They took out the guards and headed out the gate and ran as far as they could until they were sure no one was coming after them.

They heard the sound of motor bikes approaching and soon could see Killjoys approaching from every angle. At first they were nervous to think that they had a guard outside of the perimeter but as they got closer, Disco could recognize a few of them.

"Cosmic Karma!" Disco laughed and waved her arms. "It's good guys, she's not a traitor! I know her better than anyone." The Killjoy on the motorbike stopped in front of them and smirked.

"Good to see more survivors. Come on, Jet-Star has a camp set up not too far from here!"


	12. Taking Back What's Mine

The sky dimmed orange then a bluish purple, the sun setting behind the dusty horizon obscured by the smoke from the Killjoys camp where the fires had now been doused. Party Poison, Tiger Beatdown and Jet-Star stood at the edge of the makeshift camp and stared toward the Killjoys encampment. Poison paced every so often but the other two men just stared at the smoke billowing from what had once been a place of refuge and unity but now was filled with lies, treachery and possibly death by the looks of the smoke the wind was carrying toward them.

"What did she do to my headquarters?" Poison stopped in front of his friends and threw his hands to the side in frustration. It was eating him alive to see the smoke there but not being able to do anything about it. First she'd knocked down the guard tower and now she'd set the damn camp on fire. Then again, she could have just been in mortal peril of some kind and defending herself and not just setting things on fire for the hell of it. _Ha, I highly doubt that_. _That's what I get for leaving her with those two._

"Who?" Jet-Star looked skeptical.

"One of the girls we were traveling with." Tiger whispered behind his hand, trying to avoid irritating Poison further. The last thing they needed was for him to run off back to the camp and get himself into further trouble.

"No, no! The fucking _arsonist_ we were traveling with! Not even an arsonist, she's a fucking pyromaniac. You have not seen the way that she is with that lighter! She's psychotic!"

"You can't know that she started the fires over there Poison." Jet-Star shrugged, sharing in the anxiety that Poison felt. That place was his home and watching the smoke billow after the orange glow of the flames had disappeared was grating on his nerves. How many homes had been destroyed? How many people had been wounded in the blaze? How many people would die because he'd brought their best medics with him out of the camp?

"…The camp is on fire, and there's an arsonist in there somewhere, who the fuck do you think started the fires if not her?" Poison rolled his eyes at them as though they were idiots for even thinking about anything alternate possibilities. Poison was conflicted, on one hand he was pissed off because of the damage being done to his home and the home of the people he commanded and on the other hand he was worried about the reasons behind the fire. _She wouldn't have burnt it down unless she was panicked. Right? She knows how much that place means to me… I hope._ He'd seen what she was capable of when she'd attacked him for her lighter, but she had it now so she'd surely have a level head, right?

"Calm down. The fires have stopped now, okay? Once we take back the camp we can assess the damage but right now I think that we have some bigger fish to fry than a little fire. Especially a fire that's completely out of our control." Jet-Star folded his arms over his chest and tried not to be overwhelmed by just how big those fish were now. They were fifty, maybe sixty people. There was no way they could overtake the camp by sheer force.

"Sir, found more survivors!" Cosmic Karma swept her red, white and blue hair out of her face after pulling off her helmet as she approached. She held the helmet under her arm and saluted Poison and Tiger.

"Where?" Poison stepped forward before Jet-Star could respond. It was easy to forget that Jet-Star had done all the work here and to jump into the position of power. Luckily Jet-Star wasn't offended and merely followed along.

"Are they alright?"

"I left them with Neon Rocket, sir to get cleaned up. They were bloody and bruised. They said they were with Tiger Beatdown and Party Poison-" Karma didn't get to finish her sentence as Party Poison and Tiger Beatdown brushed past her to find their comrades. Tiger Beatdown had been stressing about his friends, both Agent Alpaca and his newfound comrade Disco Bitch who seemed to become something more in his thoughts than he'd let on. Tiger and Poison walked in on the pathetic looking group who were interacting with the medics there and getting cleaned up.

"We're fine, really. Just a few scrapes and such." Disco Bitch insisted to one of the medics trying to see if she wounded.

"Oh wait, I need a tetanus shot." Fire Frenzy raised her hand for attention. She had objected when Neon Rocket had offered her some clothing that wasn't soaked in gasoline. Agent Alpaca actually laughed out loud at that then rose from his seat on a pile of wood and scrap metal that had been formed into a makeshift bench. He recalled how she had been introduced by the bartender the night before.

"Tiger, Poison, you're both alright!"

"It's good to see you too, old friend." Tiger gave his best friend and confidant a hug, just grateful to see him in one piece, even if he looked worse for wear at the moment.

"What the fuck happened?" Poison approached Frenzy and the newcomer, Black Cherrybomb. "And who the fuck are you? _Addict_, why the hell did you burn down my camp?" Poison's anger had placated upon seeing those he'd been traveling with. Having been trapped in that camp amongst their new enemy had been a true test of loyalty and it looked like they'd all passed with flying colors.

"Slow down Poison." Disco Bitch interrupted Black Cherrybomb who pouted in response. "After Frenzy knocked down the guard tower we were captured, mostly because Agent Alpaca had a stupid idea."

"It wasn't stupid, and it was Frenzy's fault." Alpaca sat back down and tried to dust some of the dirt off of his clothing, an impossible task. "They had loyal Killjoys tied up. One of them defended you Poison, well, in a manner of speaking. They broke his jaw then left him there to bleed. He was going to choke to death on his own blood if we didn't help."

"It was a stupid idea, it got us captured." Disco rolled her eyes. "I am glad, in hindsight, that we did it. I don't think my conscience would've handled it very well if he had actually died." Disco continued on. Frenzy wasn't talking but letting Neon Rocket examine the wound on her hand from a few nights before. She had explained quietly how she'd gotten it while staring fascinated at the hideous scab that had formed. She'd had a hard time keeping it closed despite the wrapping due to how often she'd used her hand in the last few days. Disco turned away as Neon Rocket stuck an incredibly large looking needle right into the wound on Frenzy's hand.

"Anyway…" Alpaca cleared his throat. "We were captured and gagged but this guy saved us. I have mixed feelings on it actually." Alpaca narrowed his eyes at Black Cherrybomb.

"His name is Black Cherrybomb, I'm not sure what he was doing there but we're grateful for his help." Disco spat at Alpaca and Cherrybomb nodded his head, waiting until the story was told to be able to have his say in things.

"So how the hell did you set the camp on fire?" Poison narrowed his eyes at Fire Frenzy who was ignoring him now on purpose. He hadn't noticed the cut on her hand before this and wondered about it.

"We were on our way out of the camp, but there were a number of Killjoys blocking our path while trying to repair that guard tower that Frenzy fucked to give us cover. But we came across some Killjoys, some I knew actually, who were talking shit about the old regime."

"They were accusing you of being a traitor, a pervert and a thief." Alpaca shrugged, not having much of an issue of telling Poison the shameful things that had been said.

"What?" Poison felt his cheeks turn pink, not with embarrassment, but with anger. He understood where they got pervert from, given his pastime, but he had never let it interfere with the work he did amongst the Killjoys and he was certainly no thief unless they counted stealing from the Dracs but in that case every Killjoy could be considered a thief.

"Frenzy had noticed it first, honestly. We were going to let it go but she was pretty persistent. She gave this really nice speech, you would've blushed Poison." Disco smiled.

"No, no, don't turn this into something about him." Frenzy finally acknowledged them. "I just don't like people who spread lies. They had to be put in their place."

"_Anyway_, I had no idea what they were doing." Agent Alpaca shrugged "But apparently while she'd been talking, Frenzy had been spilling gasoline everywhere and Disco added debris to the mixture. Frenzy lit the match and the place went up in flames."

"And of course, I grabbed the lovely arsonist to make sure she didn't catch on fire during the whole process since she didn't seem to care much about getting herself covered in the accelerant."

"I know how to set fires. It's part of what I do." Frenzy stated simply then thanked Neon Rocket quietly as he wrapped her hand back up. Her hands were shaking again in need of something her body was missing, but Rocket and the others seemed to attribute it to the fact that he'd just stuck a giant needle in her palm.

"Of course you do." Disco Bitch laughed a bit at the exchange. "Regardless of the damage we did it was the distraction we needed to escape the camp and find our way back to you guys. I'm glad you were both here. We weren't sure what had become of you in all that chaos."

"I hate to interrupt this… heartfelt regaling of what occurred only moments prior but I'd like to discuss some… payment if we could." Cherrybomb leaned toward Disco Bitch and gave her a sultry smile, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Tiger immediately furrowed his brow and stepped closer to Disco Bitch and Cherrybomb, doing his best to seem threatening.

"Payment for what?"

"I'm not a Killjoy." Cherrybomb didn't seem the least bit intimidated by the tiger growling above him. "I'm a mercenary. I left your organization a long time ago. You're ineffective but have good intentions. But I prefer to get things _done_ rather than dicking around_._" Cherrybomb pursed his lips then looked at Fire Frenzy. "Maybe you? You could surely repay me couldn't you? I did pull you away from the fire."

"I could give you a gun, but something tells me you're already packing." Frenzy shrugged. They all stared at her for a moment and then Cherrybomb burst into hysterics.

"Is she the only one with a sense of humor here?" He couldn't help but grin a bit, then looked to Disco Bitch. "No I bet you have a pretty _deep_ sense of humor too…"

"Alright, alright, enough joking around." Alpaca stopped the conversation before Tiger Beatdown killed Cherrybomb with his stare alone. "If you want some kind of _monetary_ payment for your services than after we get this situation under control we can settle it, but until then you can just deal with a metaphorical pat on the back."

"Oh you're no fun. I was joking around." Cherrybomb stood up and dusted off the revealing cat suit he was wearing and straightened his tie. "I don't need any payment… Well the only thing I require is that you let me in on a piece of this action. I may not be the Killjoys' biggest fan but I like this new breed of them even less than I like you. And I won't sell my services to them, so there goes my lifeblood if they win." Cherrybomb shrugged. "Think about it, I need to go introduce myself to this enchanting woman who gave us a lift here." Black Cherrybomb walked over toward Cosmic Karma to engage her in conversation. She didn't seem to mind very much, he was very good looking and though he was persistent, it was in a charming sort of way.

"Are you alright?" Tiger sat down in Cherrybomb's spot on the bench and whispered to Disco Bitch. Agent Alpaca rolled his eyes and walked over to Neon Rocket to see if he could clean up some of the scratches and scrapes he'd gotten in the earlier fray.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Frenzy and Alpaca both took it harder than I did. They gagged me tighter though so my jaw is sore."

"I'm going to guess you were yelling at Alpaca right?" He chuckled in response as Disco nodded her head.

"I can't help it, he just pisses me off."

"You're sure that you're alright? You're covered in dirt." Tiger used his thumb to wipe away some of the caked on dirt from her face. He could see her cheeks tint pink with his action and couldn't help but smile at her. _Why is my heart beating so damn fast?_ He pulled his hand back after he realized he'd lingered for too long.

"Yeah, I'm really fine. My wrists are a little sore but it's nothing a good night's sleep wouldn't cure."

"I'm sure we could all use a good night's sleep." Tiger nudged her shoulder and picked up her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I was worried about you, you know."

"You shouldn't be, I can handle myself." Disco Bitch was not good with these sorts of emotions. _Is he flirting with me? Is he showing affection? Should I reciprocate? Is this inappropriate? What the hell am I doing?_ This was no time to start a romance, but what if it was inevitable? They had to hold onto the little things in this life, there was no way of telling just how much longer any of them had to live. "I was worried about you too." She said very quickly, tripping over her tongue a few times in the process.

"Well, I'm glad we're both alright. Now we can get to the bottom of this bullshit, right?" Tiger stayed close to her and didn't make an effort to move any further away than was necessary. He could tell she was flustered but he took this as a sign of something good happening between them.

"Me too. We need to figure out how to take back the camp." She cleared her throat.

"Yeah, definitely. After we're done cleaning up we'll meet around the fire. Jet-Star's attending to some more of the wounded and I know he wanted to be part of the talks." Tiger nodded.

"He's a good man." Disco nodded. "So are you." Tiger smiled and gave her hand another small squeeze.

* * *

><p>"What?" Fire Frenzy looked up at Party Poison who was watching her, one hand on his hip the other arm hanging limply at his side. Poison couldn't hide his shit-eating grin. "What? You're creeping me out."<p>

"_I'm_ creepy? Really?" Poison laughed at the irony of it all. "You defended me."

"I defended your stupid cause."

"You said nice things about me."

"You're a dick, but you're not a _complete_ loser." Frenzy shrugged.

"I'm enjoying this whether you like it or not." Poison nodded his head toward the camp. "Come on, I'll show you around." He turned around and stopped as he felt her bandaged hand grab his wrist.

"You're wounded."

"I thought I was a dick?"

"You're a wounded dick." Frenzy shrugged and stood up. She pushed on the laser scar on his arm and it bled at her touch.

"Ouch-shit hey!" Poison backed away from her touch and held his arm protectively. "Don't touch it!"

"Sit down you big baby." Frenzy pointed to the bench where she had been sitting. She didn't wait for him to sit but instead walked over to Neon Rocket. Poison watched as she spoke to him and sat down after a moment. She came back to him with some antiseptic and bandages for his arm.

"So you're going to take care of me now, huh? First you defend me, now you're taking care of me…"

"I'm going to keep your arm from falling off so you're not useless."

"What, I'm not as cute with one arm?"

"You're not cute with two arms." Frenzy shrugged it off and dumped the antiseptic on the nasty wound on his arm.

"You're in denial." Poison laughed and then winced and bit his lip to keep from making a pathetic sound at the pain in his arm. The pain shot down to his fingers and resonated through his shoulder and chest. He watched as the wound oozed instantly from the cleaning fluid. Yellowish pus and caked blood dripped down his skin.

"You're delusional so I think we're even." Frenzy watched the ick drip down his arm and then wiped it up with a cloth, trying to be sensitive to the wound and the pain it was causing him.

"Ouch, god damnit, will you be gentle?" Poison yelped in pain from the cloth as it grated over his skin.

"No. Suck it up you baby." Frenzy continued to clean the wound. "I need to get all the dirt out of it asshole. Or it'll get infected. Think about something else?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, something comforting. What am I, your mother now? I could've just let your arm rot and fall off!" Frenzy shrugged. She finally found the real source of the wound. "This looked a lot worse than it was. It only grazed you."

"Hurts worse than it looks…" Poison muttered, nearly pouting as he watched her but eventually smiled a bit as he observed her work. She was pretty decent at cleaning up the nasty wound. Frenzy continued to clean, regardless of his staring. After a few moments of mending the wound and tugging at loose skin she was able to deem it cleaned. He'd stopped whining like a baby, so she didn't care if his staring at her was the reason he had stopped.

"Alright, you're good to go now." Frenzy wrapped the wound with gauze and then tapped the gauze shut securely. "You're welcome."

"Hey." He grabbed her hand and rolled down her jacket, seeing the raw bruises on her wrists. "They tied you up pretty good huh?"

"Yeah, but there's nothing to do about it. It's just rope burn anyway." Frenzy pulled her hands away. "Stop finding excuses to touch me."

"I was just making sure _you_ weren't being a baby about your wounds like I was." Poison shrugged.

"I uh… I hate to interrupt." Cosmic Karma approached the two, clearing her throat. She'd obviously managed to fend off Black Cherrybomb but looked like she had been wary to interrupt the exchange between the two. Frenzy scooted instantly away from Party Poison and looked up at her, waiting for further instructions.

"It's alright, she was just wrapping this bullshit wound on my arm." Poison shrugged. His arm already felt better now that the laser graze had been cleaned up. "What do you need Karma?"

"Jet-Star sent me. He's starting the fire. He figured it was about time to discuss our next steps." She nodded.

"Definitely." Poison stood up and grabbed Fire Frenzy's arm. "You're coming."

"Was I trying to get away?" Frenzy shoved him off of her arm.

"I guess I'm just used to having to pull your teeth to get you to join me."

"That's a stupid metaphor." Frenzy muttered and the two walked over to the fire that'd been built in the center of the temporary camp. He sat next to Cosmic Karma and Fire Frenzy and looked around at those he'd been traveling with along with Jet-Star and a few Killjoys whose names he couldn't recall.

"We need to take back the camp." Poison said to start it off. "There are no questions about it. There are those loyal to us in there and they deserve to be set free. We can't leave it the way it is." The circle nodded to agree, exchanging positive murmurs.

"We do need to take action, I agree, but more immediately we can't linger here." Disco leaned forward, closing her jacket for the first time since the night before. "It's too out in the open. You think that they're not going to send forces out here to look for us? Sure, they're busy right now with what we did in the camp but by morning they're going to be sending search parties and you can bet they're well organized if they managed to overtake the camp." The sun was setting over the horizon completely now, leaving the entire sky an inky black with only the tinge of a purplish hue along the edges.

"She's right." Jet-Star sighed heavily. "I only stopped here because there were too many wounded to continue. We need to move into the zones and find some safe haven."

"We can't use any of the old hide outs." Tiger Beatdown said at Agent Alpaca's prodding.

"There are too many of our own Killjoys amongst them now. They'll know where to check." Alpaca added

"There are people friendly to us in the second and third zones. We'll find places to hide that our own people don't know about." Jet-Star nodded. "I think that's really the most important thing here."

"Well, I don't think we're going to stick around with you." Poison cleared his throat. "Jet-Star I think you should continue to harbor the sick and look out for those who have escaped the camp who are still loyal to us. You're doing good work here." Poison tried to think of where they could go and still be safe to discuss their plans. Then it clicked. "Fire Frenzy has a-"

"Oh no, no way." Frenzy immediately objected. "I am trying to keep myself hidden from you people not invite you over for tea."

"It's the only place we can go right now that I know is safe. Plus you've got a shit load of weapons. We'd be safe there to discuss our plans." Poison argued.

"Come on, he's right." Disco pleaded with her. "It's just one night."

"God, you people are imposing." Frenzy visibly deflated. "Fine, fine whatever but my rules apply there. You touch something and I'm going to cut your hands off. Got it?"

"We just need a place to plan and sleep and stock up on weaponry. I'll pay you once I've gotten the camp back and things under control again."

"Right." Frenzy rolled her eyes and leaned her elbows on her knees.

"I'll pay you double." Poison smirked, knowing that he could provide her with drugs too if absolutely necessary but he was hoping that he could convince her to get off of the pills after all this had settled.

"Fine, fine." Frenzy muttered. "But we should go. If you want to plan and get some rest then we need to head there now. I'm all the way in the fourth zone."

"Then it's decided." Poison stood up and looked at those around him. Jet-Star stood up and held out his hand.

"I'll be in the third zone. The second zone seems too hot still for us to hide in after what happened there with you." Jet-Star nodded. "If you need to find me, just come into the zone, I'll find you." Jet-Star smirked, he was rather excellent when it came to scouting.

"Thank you for everything." Poison held his hand out to shake then looked around to those he knew were going to accompany them. Tiger Beatdown, Agent Alpaca, Fire Frenzy, Disco Bitch and Black Cherrybomb stood up and walked over to him. "Well, you heard the lady. She says we have a walk ahead of us, so we better get going." The group walked from the camp as they watched the Killjoys there starting to pack up. Seeing so many wounded doing as much as they could to pull their weight had renewed their faith in their people. So many had been misguided and easily led astray by the new rebels, but there were still many who believed in what they did.

It took an hour to walk to Frenzy's bunker and they were all relieved when it came into view. Frenzy led them to a fire pit she'd dug into the ground behind the bunker itself. She used it mostly for melting down metal when she needed to or cooking, but she rarely had done that. She started the fire while the others sat around it.

"We need to devise a plan, a real plan to take back the base." Poison sighed, glad to be sitting again. The wound had drained him more than he'd like to admit and for the first time in a long time he missed the drugs.

"Yeah, but we're a handful of people against a multitude." Alpaca was frustrated with the situation. "We should go back to the west and see if we have any loyal forces there."

"I can guarantee you that if we go back there now there will be rebels waiting for us." Tiger lifted his head from his arm, looking at them all. "You think that the corruption was solitary to the east? It wasn't. I received corrupted reports too. If the east camp has been taken over so easily then I'm sure the west fell just as quickly, if not quicker."

"He's right." Cherrybomb chimed in. "I went there first. They're friendlier to my type in the west and well… there were a bunch of those rebels in the west too. It's harder to tell there because it's all underground but they'd taken out the perimeter guard."

"Well, there goes that idea."

"What if we just tried to reason with them?" Disco suggested after a moment in thought. "I mean, a lot of them are our Killjoys and they're only believing what they're told. What if we brought them the truth? Maybe enough would see the obvious and join us?"

"Yeah, or they could laugh at us and shoot us in the face." Party Poison scoffed. "I don't have much faith for the people left in the camps. I think with time it can be rehabilitated but without taking the camp by force I don't think we're going to take it at all. And let's face it- no one there is my biggest fan right now."

"Mine either." Tiger had heard from Disco Bitch that they had been talking negatively about him too.

"Well then, we attack when they're asleep." Cherrybomb thought. "That's what I do in shitty situations. I know we're not very many, but it's likely the weak ones won't stay to fight, they'll probably hide and wait to see who will be victor."

"Yeah, I'm sure that sixty against five hundred is going to go _really_ well." Alpaca cocked an eyebrow and shook his head. "What if we went in seeking refuge? And turned them from the inside?"

"That could take months." Poison muttered, but thought it was the best idea they'd come up with so far. "If we take out Phoenix Fury, they might bend. He's their leader and they seem to be looking to him for steam."

"Your ideas are all fucking stupid." Frenzy added some more kindling to the fire to make it brighter. She had some food that she thought they could use for the moment. They all looked at her in annoyance, but partially knew it was true so didn't object.

"Unless you have something constructive to add to the conversation, Frenzy, I suggest you shut the hell up." Poison didn't have the energy for some kind of petty argument with her. They had to find a real solution. Fire Frenzy walked around and handed them each a sharpened metallic rod and then handed out plates of sausages for them to cook. She sat down next to Party Poison and addressed the rest of the group.

"You need to stick to what you're good at. Poison, you're a good leader, Tiger you're good at defense. Disco and Cherrybomb are excellent at combat, Alpaca's a good commander but doesn't handle pressure very well. I'm good at distracting and getting out of shitty situations. None of us is equipped to plan an attack on a fully equipped encampment. We need a strategist." They all made themselves busy with the food she'd handed out and thought about what she said. They hated to admit that they couldn't do it themselves, but she was right.

"We have no idea what we're doing." Disco Bitch muttered as she took a bite of her food. It tasted better than anything she'd ever eaten in her life, but it had also been a few days since she'd properly eaten so she could have been exaggerating.

"You're right, we need a strategist, but it's not like they're just popping up on every corner." Poison eventually agreed and then started to eat the food she'd brought them. He hadn't expected her to be a good host at all, but was surprised that she'd handled it quite well.

"You're in luck." Frenzy smiled for the first time any of them had seen. The shaking in her hands had ceased. While she'd been retrieving the food from her bunker she'd gotten the medicine she needed. It was easier to do when Poison wasn't breathing down her neck. "I happen to be friends with the best strategist in the zones."

"I find it hard to believe that you have friends." Poison scoffed and cocked an eyebrow at her. The food had perked his mood up a bit.

"I've known her for years." Frenzy ignored Poison's objections. "I'll send her a message. I can radio to her and her partner and set up a meet for the morning in one of the zones. Trust me, she's really good at what she does. I've supplied her weapons many times and every great heist I've ever pulled off was planned by her. I've broken into buildings in Battery City to steal Better Living Industries transcripts without even being noticed." This was all the proof the group needed. If this woman could organize a break-in into Battery City without detection, she just might be able to get them out of the nasty situation they were in now.

"That's the best plan we've got besides going undercover. That could take months and I don't think we have that long to get this situation under control." Poison sighed and watched Agent Alpaca as he stifled a yawn. "That being said, I think the best thing we can do now is wind down until the morning. I'm pretty sure it's been almost three days since half of us have slept. I'm living on adrenaline right now and it's fading."

"Damn right." Tiger laughed and nudged Disco Bitch with a smile. "We haven't slept since we left to go to the second zone and I'm exhausted."

"Well, there's no room to sleep in my bunker. There's only one bed in there and it's covered in scrap metal that I picked up the other day." Frenzy stood up and folded her arms over her chest. She clearly found all of them being here intrusive. It was grating on her nerves even though she'd taken the medicine. She'd been with these people for too long, it was distracting from everything she stood for and everything she pursued in her life. "I do have tents and sleeping bags. The last caravan I sabotaged was supposed to be filled with weapons and energy packs but instead if was filled with tents and shit. I only took half of what was there since I thought I might need them in the desert. I guess you're lucky I did." Frenzy disappeared again for a few moments. Disco Bitch chased after her and helped her carry out the bundles of cloth that could be unfolded into tents as well as sleeping bags.

Disco Bitch was starting to unfold the mess of a tent she'd taken. She'd never been good at this kind of thing. She'd always preferred to sleep out in the open than under a tent since they always seemed to fall apart on her through the night.

"Fuck this, fucking piece of shit…" She grumbled as she pulled out of the tent that had fallen once again on her head. It'd been ten minutes since she started putting the stupid thing together and it just kept falling on her.

"Do you need some help?" Tiger laughed, resting two sleeping bags down next to her tent. He had wanted an excuse to come talk to her, so he'd brought her a sleeping bag but realized she already had one. Now she was having a hard time with the tent which gave him the perfect opportunity.

"Oh… Yeah, this thing is a pain in the ass." Disco pouted, adjusting her jacket. Even when it was open and though she wore no shirt underneath it somehow seemed to cover everything appropriately. Tiger took the tent from her and started by staking each end into the dirt beneath them.

"You're just rushing it. Haven't you put one up before?"

"I'm pretty sure I just wait for cute guys to notice I'm in distress and help me out with it." Disco laughed, watching him as he set things up.

"Well, I'd be happy to take notice any day." He half smiled at her as he put up the tent. She wondered if he felt anything more for her than he was letting on. She couldn't observe any physical reaction to her due to the clothing he wore. Usually she was a great read on people, but the only sexual advances she'd ever made had been on people she intended to manipulate. She didn't want to manipulate this man.

"Well, thanks again. I really do appreciate it. The last thing I needed was for Cherrybomb to come over here hoping for a quick fuck, or Alpaca coming over here to tell me how incompetent I am."

"You misjudge my friend I think. He's a really good guy. Sweet even."

"Sweet? Are you sure you don't mean rude?" Disco helped him support the interior of the tent while he placed the support rods in place.

"I'm sure. I don't think he dislikes you as much as you think. In fact… I think he's jealous." Tiger finished with the rods and hesitantly pulled his hands from the fabric. It stayed up and he straightened his back proudly.

"Jealous of me? Does he want to be a girl?" Disco laughed and ducked nervously in case the tent came down on top of them. She sighed in relief as it stayed up and then sat down on the floor of the tent. Tiger sat down as well and pulled in the sleeping bags he'd brought with him. He didn't have any intentions of sleeping in there, it was simply force of habit.

"No, I think he's jealous of my affection for you." Tiger shrugged. He didn't want to scare her off but he was tired of dancing around the inevitable. "I like you. More than like you, I guess. I think he knew that was part of why I was so eager to trust you." Disco didn't say anything just stared at him. "Look, I know it seems stupid to bring up these sorts of emotions and conflicts when everything that's happening around us is… so difficult. But the way I see it, if I die before I tell you that I could see myself in your arms, then I've wasted my life."

"What?" Disco couldn't believe that he had been thinking things so similar to her thoughts earlier when they'd escaped. If she had been right about everything then why was she still doubting herself?

"I don't want to pretend I don't like you. I want to be able to go into the thick of battle, kiss you good luck and know that I've told you everything honestly and if something happens to either of us, we'll both know the way things really are."

"Tiger…"

"Don't tell me you haven't felt the same way?"

"No, it's not that…"

"Then what is it?"

"You talk too much." Disco leaned closer to Tiger and tilted herself up to kiss his lips. He tasted sweeter than she ever could've imagined. Tiger was surprised by her actions but very quickly gave in, his arms wrapping around her in a sweet and comforting embrace. All the nerves he'd built up while telling her what was in his heart melted into the lips that brushed against his. He slipped his hands beneath her jacket and brushed his thumbs against the bare skin that met him. "If we're going to die then I want you to know that I'm not sure what this is, but I don't want to stop it. I don't want to miss any chances to make stupid decisions with you."

"You have no idea how good it is to hear that…" Tiger whispered, in a voice much more aggressive than need be. His lips met hers, time after time again, feeling his own swell just from the contact. It'd been years since he'd kissed anyone long enough to feel this kind of satisfaction. His body was reacting in ways he was hoping he could suppress but Disco Bitch didn't seem to mind. She leaned her body against his, pressing her chest to his.

Tiger took a chance and brushed his fingers over the side of her neck, then gently eased her down onto the floor of the tent. It wasn't comfortable but it was better than being on the dirt itself. He unzipped the motorcycle jacket she wore then stopped suddenly to speak.

"How the hell does this thing stay on?" He smirked as he let his fingers brush along the inside of the leather jacket, his fingertips barely gracing her flesh.

"I guess you'll just find out for yourself won't you?" Disco realized with her words she was giving him permission to go further than either of them had intended. His lips were on hers again and his hands wandered beneath the jacket. Disco closed her eyes and let herself be prey to the Tiger leaning over her.

The silence of the woman next to him who lay with her jacket covering her body to the best of its ability, the sweat still lingering on her pale skin, was making him nervous. He had been afraid that doing this so quickly would ruin things between them, but he had also wanted to express his physical attraction for her as well. _No regrets_. He reminded himself, and was sure he could see the same nerves within her shy gaze.

"I never intended to lead the Killjoys you know." Tiger looked over at her and brushed the stray hair out of her face once more. It was stuck to her skin via sweat. He thought it looked divine right where it had been, but found himself needing to keep his hands busy.

"Oh yeah?" Disco smiled serenely, it'd been years since she'd done such a thing.

"When I was young all I ever dreamt of was the roar of a crowd. My heart ached for music. I wanted to get up on stage and play music for people who could feel the way that I felt. I was told at an early age though that I wouldn't feel a thing if I stayed on BL/ind's drugs." Tiger shook his head and averted his gaze. He hadn't shared this story with anyone, not even Agent Alpaca but he wouldn't admit it either. "I was pretty handy with a guitar… I still am. Don't tell anyone, I try not to make a big deal out of it."

"You play? That's amazing…" Disco leaned up on her elbows and made herself more alert to listen to his story. "You'll have to play for me when all this is over."

"If all of this is ever over." Tiger sighed heavily. "I wanted a real life. I wanted to pursue a passion and marry the woman I fell in love with and have kids and a home. I wanted to feel what I wanted to feel without having someone tell me when it was okay. Better Living… they forced the drugs on us at a young age. I ran away when I was fourteen to join the Killjoys after I saw what was happening to the people around me. I wanted a real life, I wanted real peace not what Better Living was disguising as such." Disco stayed silent. She'd heard many people with reasons for joining the Killjoys but had never heard of one that didn't involve violence.

"I know that I'll never be able to find that sort of peace here amongst the Killjoys. I know that life right now without drugs or persecution for being different is impossible. You're either a Killjoy, a drone, or you're half-dead. Every one of us, no matter what we say we're fighting for, we're fighting for this life I dreamt of. We're fighting for the right to live."

"I guess we are." Disco had never thought of it that way.

"That's why I rose so quickly amongst the Killjoys. I believe in what we fight for. I want to be able to find that woman that my whole world is going to revolve around… I want to spend my life with that woman and have children and play music and teach the arts and preach freedom. I want a life and even if I don't see that in my own lifetime? I think it's worth fighting to at least _try_." Tiger sat up and pushed his layered hair back into its proper place since it had become so disheveled when he and Disco had rolled around on the floor together. Disco sat up as well and pulled the jacket back on properly. After a moment they had both decided to dress and sat together in the tent, just staring at each other.

"That's a sweet story." Disco said after an awkward moment of trying to reattach the tape to her chest with the jacket. "I wish more people realized that's what we're really fighting for. I think sometimes even I get caught up in the idea of revenge and changing the world. When it comes down to it, we're fighting for the right to live the way we choose. Most people choose monotony. Hell, all of us Killjoys would probably be living pretty average lives if it weren't for what was going on in Battery City."

"It's true. I try to remind myself of that every day." Tiger pulled a small golden locket from his coat pocket and opened it. Inside was a picture of two older people, but Disco could tell by the physical similarities that these people had to be related to him. "That's my mom and dad. They disowned me when I decided to pursue music. I haven't spoken to them since then and… they'd be ashamed to find out that I'm a leader amongst Killjoys. They spoke against the rebellions every chance that they had."

"I'm sorry…" Disco whispered after a moment.

"Don't be. I'm not." Tiger shook his head. "Sometimes you have to betray the people you love to do the right thing."

"I never pictured a world outside of this, you know." Disco looked over at Tiger. He had such beautiful imaginings of what this world could be without the Dracs, without Better Living holding humanity under its thumb. "I was content to live the way we were living. I didn't take the drugs or work in Battery City, but I was perfectly okay with minding my own business out in the zones." Disco zipped up her jacket and looked down at the ground, finding it far more interesting as she spoke. "I felt that way until I met Party Poison."

"How did he change your mind?"

"I was a mechanic in the second zone. I worked on cars for the Dracs mostly, since working with the Killjoys meant I'd make myself a target. I was an alcoholic. I hated working for the Dracs, but it was money and that was most important. I drank myself nearly to death every night. It was pretty bad."

_She could still taste the alcohol from the night before as she leaned over the hood of the car. The transmission had given out on this sport utility vehicle and the transfer case had been stripped and nearly had fallen off while being driven. It'd make her some good money to replace, but it'd be a tough job getting all of the useless metal out of the car as quickly as the Dracs wanted her to. _

_ Gunfire? Yelling? She picked her head up carefully from under the hood of the truck and peeked out the window of her garage. There were two men running, both wearing bright colors. They were dodging laser fire, working together to keep them both safe. They were close to her shop and looked like they wanted to seek refuge within. She examined them the best she could as they ran toward her building. They both had weapons, several of them, why weren't they firing back? Perhaps they were too cowardly to do so._

"But, one day I was working on a car when I heard gunfire. I stepped outside to see Kobra Kid and Party Poison being chased by some Dracs. I hid to watch. I loved the action secretly, but was too scared to put myself in the center of it. They were outnumbered four to two. The Dracs were firing like crazy but Poison and Kobra weren't. I found that curious."

"I don't know what made me do it, but when they got closer to me, I opened my garage and allowed them inside to seek refuge. They didn't want to hide, instead they asked to use some of my tools. I allowed them to and watched them overtake the Dracs. I'd never seen anything so clever before in my life. I'd never seen anyone fight like that either. It made me want to fight, but again I was just too scared."

_They were going to die if she didn't do something. There was nowhere to hide. Her auto shop was the last building in the zone and they were running into the barren desert. "Shit." Her conscience reeled her. She'd ignored two kids getting kidnapped the week before and hadn't slept a proper night since. She couldn't let these men die. The garage creaked open before she realized that she had done it. "Come inside! Hurry! It may not work for very long but you can hide here!" She shouldn't have been allowing herself to get involved, but perhaps this act would make penance for the one she'd ignored the week before. _

_ "We don't need it, thank you." The black haired boy looked weary but wore a smile. "I could use this big fucking wrench if that's okay?"_

_ "And a crowbar. Mechanics have crowbars right?" The brunette with shorter hair was looking around nervous. He was taller and lanky and though the man with the black hair had a chubbier face and was shorter they were clearly related._

_ "Use whatever you need." Her voice shook with nerves and she played with her long black hair nervously._

_ "Thanks ma'am." The shorter one responded and grabbed two wrenches off the wall. "I'll try not to bend them." He smirked and his brother followed him. Disco hid behind the garage wall and watched the two head back into the desert. They both drew their guns and shot at the dirt._

_ "What the hell are they doing?" She coughed and covered her mouth. "They're going to get themselves killed."She watched the men disappear into the dirt and come out of it dragging a Drac each. The darker haired one had the Drac on the ground in a matter of minutes. She noted they were avoiding hitting them on the head. He turned just in time to knock out one of the other Dracs. She stepped out from behind the wall of the shop once it became clear these Killjoys had the upper hand. _

"I think the whole world is too scared." Tiger whispered, not wanting to interrupt her story.

"I agree. I watched as Party Poison and Kobra Kid tied up the Dracs. They were begging to be killed. They wanted to die, since they'd lost to the Killjoys they thought that was what should become of them. They were crying, clearly not wanting to die. Party Poison spared them. He let them go. He told them if he saw them again they wouldn't be so lucky." Disco wrung her hands together.

_The two men had overtaken the Dracs in a matter of minutes, bending her tools in the process but it didn't seem very important to her right now. They tied them up, using one of her extension cords. They were close enough now to hear what they were saying._

_ "Please kill me." One of the Dracs sobbed behind his ghoul mask._

_ "No! Kill him if you must, but I have a wife and kids! You can't kill me!" Another sobbed, dropping on all fours since he couldn't properly stay upright. "Please, please, I'll do anything!"She could hear the sobs coming from beneath the masks. She'd never seen Dracs cry._

_ "I'm not going to kill you." The shorter man with the black hair pushed his dirty hair from his face, sounding irritated that they'd think such a thing. "Get out of here. I'm going to give you once chance to back away without your guns. If I see you again you won't be so lucky. Untie them Kobra." The man acknowledged his brother who nodded and untied the Dracs. They both wore satisfied smiles on their faces. After the Dracs had fled both men walked back toward her shop._

"I asked why he didn't kill them and Poison told me that the Dracs had no choice in what they did." Disco furrowed her brow, remembering how that gotten to her so desperately. "He asked me to join them. He said I was friendly to them and he could see my intrigue. He never said he was the leader, he just said I should join. I told him I didn't approve of what they did. I told him he was as bad as the Dracs were. He told me I was entitled to my own thoughts on it and told me where to find him if I changed my mind."

_"Here you go. I'm sorry I bent them. I tried not to. The Dracs wear armor." The man shrugged. "I'm Party Poison, this is my brother Kobra Kid. Thank you for helping us… and offering us refuge."_

_ "Why didn't you kill them?"_

_ "The Dracs?"_

_ "They had no problem killing you, why wouldn't you do the same to them?"_

_ "The Dracs don't have much of a choice in what they do." Poison began darkly. His smile disappeared as he spoke. "They don't actually know better. They take so many fucking drugs and sit through so much bullshit with Better Living that they don't think for themselves anymore. I know good men who have disappeared and come out Dracs. Just because they're under BL/ind's influence doesn't mean they deserve to die." The woman looked startled at his response. She'd never known any of that. She thought they had been an army, a force for good against the Killjoys. "You should come with us. The Dracs will be back here later. They don't actually listen when I tell them to back off. You'd make a good Killjoy, you know, if you toughened up a bit."_

_ "I wouldn't join if you begged me." She spat out without thinking. "You're vigilantes fighting against the law because you think you know better. Well who's to say that your cause is any more righteous than theirs? You're just as bad as Better Living, assuming that people want to be told how to live." Poison chuckled and she could see Kobra roll his eyes at her._

_ "You're entitled to your own opinions. That's not what we do and I think you know that or you wouldn't have helped us today. Why don't you sleep on it? I go to this club in the third zone every other night. You can find me there tomorrow night if you change your mind." Poison walked away from her without another word, Kobra following behind him._

"What changed your mind?"

"I got drunk after that and closed shop early. The Dracs broke in that night. They interrogated me and were just… worse than I'd like to remember. Of all the blackouts I'd had, I wished that had been one of them." Disco shook her head in dismay. "I knew they were going to kill me since I didn't have any real information for them. I don't recall a lot of it…" She lied to him.

_"Tequila… my one true friend…" She slurred as the liquid dripped down her chin. It had been several hours since the Killjoys had left. Her mind was racing. She'd saved those men so why didn't she feel any better about the children who were lost the week before? It only seemed fair, she'd paid her penance. Her stomach was aching now from too much alcohol which was a feat for someone who drank as much as she did. She stumbled into her bathroom and vomited her brains out. It felt like it was pouring from every orifice that could make contact with her throat._

_ A loud bang made her sit up straight and she slammed her head into the grimy counter next to the toilet. A moment later she was being dragged by her hair out into the desert night. A group of six Dracs all heavily armed were staring her down. The butt end of a ray gun crashed across her face, knocking her easily to the ground and causing blood to drip into her eyes. She vomited in response. The alcohol was still kicking her ass. She closed her eyes as she felt a boot hit her gut, over and over again, her rib cracked and she screamed in pain but gagged since the act of breathing had suddenly become so painful. Her hair was being pulled again and she was forced up to her feet, her mouth dripping with blood and vomit. The act of staying upright was more painful than she could've described._

_ "You helped two Killjoys earlier today. You are going to lead me to them now, or I'm going to cut off each one of your fucking fingers until you do." A man in an all white mask with nothing but the Better Living symbol on top of it told her in a hiss._

_ "I don't know…" She stuttered, too sick and scared to do much else. She tried to run as two Dracs grabbed her arms and held her back as another brutalized her. Each punch, each kick made her weak. Eventually her knees gave up on holding her up. She could only see clearly out of one eye, the other so swollen from being hit. "I told you, I don't know!" She cried, blood still spilling from her lips, more so than the vomit now._

_ "I don't think she knows anything." She could hear another Drac whispering._

_ "That's cause I don't…" She muttered leaning to the side. She forced both eyes open and watched as they talk about her. She couldn't hear them but she knew they were planning to kill her. She wasn't ready to die. She had always thought death would be a welcome reprieve, but she realized in that moment life was worth living and she could do more than just drink every night if she had some help. She looked to one of the men who had held her during her beating._

"But I somehow grabbed one of their ray guns. I killed every one of those motherfuckers. I knew I couldn't stay within my simple life anymore. I knew I had to take action. I found Party Poison after that. He saw I was covered in blood but he didn't judge me. He offered me salvation, a warm place to sleep, food, and training. Poison helped me ditch the alcohol after a year of struggling to give it up when my body had become so reliant on it. I've never looked back since then."

_She wasn't sure what made her do it. She'd only seen people use guns before, she'd never used one herself. She grabbed the laser gun out of the Drac's holster and aimed it at the men in front of her. She remembered Poison telling her they wore armor so she went for places she suspected they couldn't wear it. She shot at their heads, their necks and though the man next to her was heading for her, she shot him too. She collapsed to the ground after she was sure no one was getting up. She passed out on the ground, covered in the blood of the Dracs, and her own as well._

_ When she woke up she had the hangover from hell but she knew she couldn't linger. It was sometime mid-afternoon and she was sure that they would likely send a search party for the missing Dracs sooner or later. She got up slowly from the ground, pocketed the gun and walked away from her shop as fast as her sore and beaten legs could carry her._

_ The club went silent as she walked inside of it. It'd taken her all day to find it and only one man at the bar seemed to have any interest in her at all. The others seemed terrified of her and she couldn't blame them. Party Poison walked over to her, hurriedly. He pulled her arm around his shoulder and noted the sickening sound of the bone being separated from the shoulder._

_ "Come on." He whispered smelling the alcohol on her breath. "Let's get you to camp."_

"Wow." Tiger sighed after a moment and wrapped his arms around her. He let go of her after a moment and unrolled the sleeping bags. One wasn't big enough but if he could zip the two together then he could hold her until she slept. Her mind looked plagued with shadows from her past and for the first time since they'd met he thought she looked weary, almost weak. "Look, we all come from different places. It doesn't matter what you once were… what matters is what you do in the end. You found your place, and though you struggled to get here… you're here now and you're making a difference in more ways than you can fathom."

"I know… I do." Disco laid down at Tiger's urging. Her mind felt like scrambled eggs. "I haven't told anyone that story… No one other than Party Poison at least." Tiger's lips met hers again and they comforted her. He could see her lids half closed already.

"Thank you for sharing with me Disco… I know how hard it is to share something you're afraid of" He whispered and wrapped his arms around her, covering them both up with the sleeping bag. "Get some sleep… I know that drained you. It's been a long few days. We need the rest."

"Goodnight Tiger…" Disco yawned and closed her eyes, almost instantly drifting to sleep.


	13. A Stain That Never Comes Off the Sheets

He couldn't sleep. It wasn't that the sleeping bag was uncomfortable, or that the tent didn't shut out light properly. It wasn't that he had too much on his mind. It wasn't even that he wasn't tired- he was fucking exhausted. He couldn't figure out what was keeping him awake, and that was part of the problem. After a half an hour of tossing and turning he gave up on sleeping for a little while and climbed out from the tent and his tangled sleeping bag. He would walk around until he couldn't anymore and pass out wherever his body let him. Insomnia was an unruly mistress and tonight he was paying for it.

He walked past several tents, counting to make sure everyone was accounted for simply because it was a way to occupy his thoughts. No one seemed to really be sleeping, just barely trying. Tiger Beatdown sat outside his tent and upon peering inside he could see Disco Bitch had managed to fall asleep. She had perhaps been the only one. Agent Alpaca was sitting in front of his own tent, seeming surly. Black Cherrybomb was practicing some kind of combat behind his tent. He couldn't seem to find Fire Frenzy but he was guessing that she likely didn't want to be found. She'd probably done it in on purpose.

Though everyone was awake he didn't want to make small talk so he headed away from the bunker until he couldn't see the figures near the tents any longer. He walked through the dirt, dragging his feet so he kicked up small clouds of dust in his wake. He muttered lyrics to a new song he'd thought of after the battle while he walked. "…tell you all how the story ends, where the good guys die and the bad guys win…" He sighed heavily thinking something didn't sound quite right about that. He'd meant the song to be encouraging, but he couldn't find the mood to write something like that. Things had been tough the last few days and he was still adjusting to his new reality. "It ain't… about all the lives you've saved… no… That's not it… Definitely not it. That definitely matters."

He stopped walking when he heard someone talking a bit ahead of him. He crouched low to the ground instinctively so he wouldn't be caught but saw after a moment of concentration that it was just Fire Frenzy. She seemed to be talking to herself about something. He watched her for a moment but couldn't make out what she was saying. She just sat there talking animatedly as though she were telling someone an interesting story.

"Fire Frenzy?" Poison decided to approach her, seeing there were several mounds on the ground. He didn't bother to count how many. Frenzy instantly stood from the ground and turned to look at him, having the expression of a child caught in the act of doing something naughty. _Curious and curiouser. _

"What?" She asked after a moment they spent staring each other down. Poison walked over to her and stood next to her, tilting his head quizzically at the mounds in front of them.

"Nothing, I didn't expect to find you out here, that's all. You scared me a little."

"You scare easy then." She looked back down at the graves and gave a small smile, whispering something he couldn't quite make out. He'd never seen her look so incredibly sane than she did in this moment, right now, next to him. Poison watched her then nodded toward the ground.

"What are these?" Frenzy didn't respond so he just continued on with his speculation. He was getting used to dealing with her quirky personality. He figured she didn't know how to act around people since she lived such a lonely existence. "They look like they might be graves. Animals maybe?"

"They're my friends. I was telling them a bedtime story." She looked over at him. He could see the lucidity in her eyes, but something else was hidden behind them. Sorrow? Fear? Paranoia? She had to be going through withdrawal of some kind. Perhaps her madness was caused by the drugs themselves. He'd never stopped to think that perhaps her social awkwardness was caused by the medicine. He wondered if she'd be a different person entirely without the pills.

"Oh, stop pretending you're crazy." Poison rolled his eyes. "I don't believe it for a second. It's time to let go of the insanity act, because no one buys it."

"I'm not putting up an act. And I'm not insane." Frenzy dusted off her vinyl skirt and looked away from the mounds on the ground, her hands fidgeting nervously.

"Are you kidding? You're putting up a front constantly for other people, to drive them away."

"You don't know anything Poison, so shut up before you make an ass out of yourself."

"You're alienating yourself! You could be doing some real good for this world and instead you decide to sit around in this hole in the ground, build weapons and horde whatever secret genius is laying in your brain like it's a curse instead of a gift! You're squandering yourself!"

"I'm doing some good in this world, I'm doing more than you Killjoys accomplish each day… it's you and your stupid organization and your stupid friends that are in my way, not the other way around. Don't talk like you have my whole life figured out Party Poison, because you know absolutely nothing and you know why that is? Because I haven't let you and I'm not going to. It's people like you who stop people like me from making a real difference because you can't get past the idea that I'm out of my mind! I know I'm not like you and I know I'm not like them, but it sure as _hell_ isn't any front and I will never change the way I do things simply because you don't understand them."

"People like me? Really, is that so? And, pray tell, exactly what kind of person do you think that I am? You say I'm making all these grand assumptions about you, but you're making an awful lot about me too. You're grouping me into some kind of Killjoy stereotype." Poison could see the weight on her shoulders, her exhaustion and weariness from the situation. He took a step closer to her. Though the words coming from his mouth sounded angry, he really felt no rage. It wasn't as though they were fighting, in fact he was more worried for her than anything at all at this point. He didn't want to see her die during all of this. _Why the hell did I think that?_

"Please leave now, you're not welcome here. Go back to your tent and get some sleep." She turned away from him to face the mounds on the ground once more. He was getting too close to her emotionally and her mind was too weak from the day's endeavors to fight him as she wished she could. Poison took a step to follow her, blocking her view of the dirt mounds in front of them. He let his forefinger brush under her chin and tilted her head up. She didn't pull away, which he found incredibly curious. Her blue eyes looked tired, more than anything. Part of him thought they were pleading with him, to save her.

Her eyes were scaring him so he looked down at her lips instead. They were cracked and looked sore, and he guessed she was biting them from nerves and he was almost hesitant to kiss them. The idea of it had become sacred, considering the way that they'd met. He leaned himself down and closed his eyes as his lips touched hers, fully expecting a punch to the gut or a slap to the face. He winced in preparation but when he felt nothing but her lips in return, he let his face relax and really concentrated on the cracked and torn precious things touching his lips. He gripped her chin a little tighter to urge her closer, his confidence building since she didn't pull away. _Why isn't she hitting me or pushing me away? She knows what I want. Or maybe she doesn't? Do I?_

For a small fleeting moment he felt her lips move softly against his, almost as though she were returning his affections. He wasn't confident she was, since he hadn't seen any response from her as of yet. His heart shot up in his throat to think it were even possible she could _want_ any part of him at this point.

Poison nearly fell forward as she pulled back from his lips very suddenly, looking more alert than she had since that morning. He hadn't realized just how far he was leaning forward until he lost his footing. He stumbled and regained himself and watched her silently for a moment.

"No!" She seemed to take a moment to gather her thoughts, but some sort of rage seemed to be bubbling just beneath her surface. He could see her breath getting faster, her gaze narrow. "You _don't_ kiss me, I forbid you to do such a thing! Especially here in front of the children! In front of the fucking children! You sick fuck!" Frenzy pointed to the mounds on the ground and Poison widened his eyes, finding her having gone actually mental for the second time since they'd met.

"What children? Calm down, it was just a kiss! What are you, twelve? I don't have cooties!"

"It was not _just_ a kiss! I know what you want, now the kids know what you want and how can they trust me if I'm kissing some sex addicted manipulative Killjoy-loser? Asshole, loser, peddler, pervert!" Frenzy was frantic and ignored him, turning to the mounds on the dirt, hurrying to the one at the far end. She leaned down and started whispering hurriedly words he couldn't hear. It sounded like she was coaxing them."Forgive me, forgive me…"

Her mind was buzzing. _Why does he keep kissing me? Why does he keep finding me when I'm vulnerable? That's just it, why am I vulnerable at all? I should just kill him. Too many fuckers loyal to him though, can't do that. _"Or maybe you don't want him dead." She hissed to herself. "Why the hell wouldn't I want him dead? He won't keep his hands off of me, keeps ogling me like I'm some forbidden lover… pig." She turned back to the mounds on the ground, speaking in a quiet, consoling voice. "Please forgive me, don't think of me like that… I'm not… I'm not…" She shook her head and clutched at the dirt on the ground. She was yelling at him again "Fucking pervert, I already told you I don't want your fucking hands on me! I know where they've been!"

"What the hell?" Poison was unbelievably confused by her display of emotion on the ground in front of him. He'd thought that ever since she'd gotten her lighter back she had found her sanity again but it seemed like she had issues deeper than that thing could fix. Not that he understood how a lighter soothed her so drastically in the first place. She was promising them something now, sitting on the ground.

"I won't give up, I'll keep going! You'll be free… I promise…" She hissed. He could see her hands clutching at her arms, digging into the fabric of her jacket and suddenly recalled the addiction she had. _I saw and said weird shit when I was going through withdrawal too._

He walked over to her and carefully touched her shoulder. She gripped his wrist and shoved it unnecessarily angrily away from her. She got to her feet and moved to strike him, not in any particular coordinated motion, just to get him away from her. He grabbed her wrists and forced her to stop squirming.

"Calm down Frenzy, calm down! You're just going through withdrawal! You just need to take a few pills and you can be back to…"

"Oh, I'm not going through withdrawal you asshole!" She shoved his hands off of hers and took a step back, starting to head away from the mounds. "Go to hell." She stomped away, seemingly having to drag herself to do so. _I need to concentrate. I should go see if Riot's sent me a message to me. I can't keep flipping out like this. _She didn't turn back and Poison just watched her walk away in confusion. He'd never seen anyone freak out the way she just had.

"What the hell just happened?" Poison looked back down at the mounds on the ground and wondered what she had meant when she'd said that he couldn't kiss her in front of the children. He wondered if the mounds _were_ graves and he had guessed properly. Whose graves were they though and why did they seem to mean so much to her? Surely they weren't children of hers. He was guessing by the way she'd been acting toward him she wasn't the promiscuous sort. He didn't doubt that others had likely tried, but if she could push him away she could push anyone away. "What is she hiding?" He wasn't sure, but he was sure as hell going to find out. There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling he couldn't explain.

* * *

><p>Tiger couldn't sleep after what he'd done with Disco. He'd managed to rest for about five minutes but he'd woken when he heard Poison walking around and muttering to himself. He fixed his messy hair and decided to step outside of the tent and think for just a bit. He sat in front of the tent and just pondered what he'd done with the woman inside of it. Surely he could see himself loving her and settling down with her, but he wasn't sure she was the type to find that kind of life enticing. Then, there was <em>why<em> they'd done it. Was it really mature of them to have gone through with something like that when so much was at stake? As far as he was concerned, that didn't seem like much of an issue since they weren't doing anything but sleeping anyway. His thoughts were stopped as he felt someone taking a seat next to him.

"Can't sleep?" Alpaca grunted, letting his friend know without saying that he couldn't sleep either.

"Too much on my mind." Tiger responded with a yawn. It was clear they were all exhausted. Alpaca's eyes flitted to his friend and then down into the open tent behind him. His eyes narrowed and his mouth dried up in frustration. He wasn't sure why he disliked this woman so much but she left a foul taste in his mouth. Her behavior was erratic and he still found her to be untrustworthy.

"Yeah, is _she_ what's on your mind?" Alpaca didn't want to sound harsh but Tiger could hear the bitter note in his voice regardless. Tiger chose to ignore it and continue on with the conversation, it appeared as though his friend was still trying to allow him to talk about whatever he wished to, even if it meant discussing a woman he didn't approve of.

"Yeah, partially. And this whole mess. There's a lot going on right now. My head's all mixed up." Tiger turned to look at Disco who still lay sound asleep. He closed the opening of the tent to help muffle the sound of his voice in hopes he wouldn't wake her up. _At least one of us can rest._

"There is a lot going on. I can't blame you for being overwhelmed."

"I really like her. I know you don't… but I do." Tiger sighed and looked at his friend sincerely. "I think she could be that girl I always dreamed of spending my life with and settling down…"

"I think you're forcing her into a mold because you're panicking." Alpaca tried not to sound harsh, but it was hard not to.

"Why would I be panicking?"

"Because we could die in the next few days. We are likely all going to die in this stupid mess. Not to mention, you've lost your armies. You've been fighting me tooth and nail since the moment she arrived on base… to _kill_ you. You're not supposed to kill the person you love, right?"

"You know as well as I do that's not what it was like. She was ordered to do so and she _chose_-"

"Yeah I've heard that story a thousand times now and it doesn't fly with me. There's more to this, I feel it."

"What more do you need? A document telling you she's honest? A lie detector test? Why should she have to prove her loyalty? She's trusted us all with her life and has done nothing to seem dishonest! You're the only one who's not seeing her for what she truly is!"

"Do you know how frustrating it is to sit and watch your best friend fall in love with a girl who he barely knows because he's afraid that if he doesn't leap now he's never going to get the chance? I know what you want from life Tiger-"

"Don't… Don't even say that shit Alpaca, that's fucking low. You think I'm that fucking stupid? I'm capable of making my own decisions you know. I don't need you to hold my hand! I'm not a child and I lived a whole life before I even met you! I wouldn't just jump into bed with some woman because I'm afraid I may never get to have the life I dreamed of!"

"I _know_ that but don't you think that it's a little fucking stupid to choose right now to seduce some chick who _tried to kill you_?"

"Will you stop saying that? She didn't try to kill me! She came to kill me but never even pulled the damn trigger! She made a choice that day, and she chose to question authority. Do you know what kind of moral standing that takes?"

"How do you know what goes on in her head, huh? How do you know she didn't jam the gun, or just wanted to move to a better position?"

"I just do! Maybe because I'm not a paranoid asshole and I'm capable of trusting more than one person! Maybe because I believe that overall, humanity is generally good natured and I don't fly off the handle every time someone makes a fucking mistake."

"It's one thing for you to fuck up your life but you have a responsibility to the Killjoys who serve you! What's more important to you? Chasing some ridiculous dream, a dream we both know is unattainable, or saving the hundreds of people who are fighting so that other people can live that dream someday when we're gone?"

"Why should I have to choose when I can have both? I am more than capable of romancing a woman _and_ leading an army!"

"Maybe I was mistrusting the wrong Killjoy leader, huh? Poison may be scum but he doesn't pretend to be innocent and naïve just to-" Alpaca was cut off as Tiger's fist slammed into his eye socket. He fell back but caught himself. Tiger was just as surprised as Alpaca was by the blow and they just stared at each other for a moment. It wasn't a serious blow but it was enough to bruise Alpaca's eyelid and make his nose bleed.

Agent Alpaca brought his hand up to his cheek and clenched his jaw to make sure it was in place before lunging at Tiger, shoving him to the ground and trying to return his blow. Tiger kicked at him to try and get him off, but not before Alpaca's fist smashed into his jaw.

"You don't fucking talk to me like that, not even you can get away with saying shit like that to me!"

"You're just pissed off that I've hit the nail right on the goddamn head!" Alpaca shoved his hand in Tiger's face to disorient him. They rolled around in the dirt, fighting for dominance for a few moments before Black Cherrybomb walked by and saw the scuffle. He hurried over and grabbed Tiger by the back of his motorcycle jacket. He pulled him off of Agent Alpaca only to see the man jump onto him after being released. Black Cherrybomb grabbed Alpaca by the fur that lined his coat and shoved him back down to the ground.

"Break it up!" He narrowed his eyes at them both. "What are you, fucking stupid kids having a dick measuring contest?" Both of the men from the west sat there catching their breath. Neither wore serious markings from their fight other than a few minor bruises and scrapes on their faces. "What the hell happened?" Agent Alpaca shoved Cherrybomb away and then got up and off of the ground. He spat at Tiger's feet and then walked away from the campsite to his own tent on the other side. Black Cherrybomb shook his head and looked to Tiger for answers, gesturing he was curious.

"It's stupid shit. You're right, we were acting like kids." Tiger felt guilty for hitting Alpaca the way he had. The bond of trust and friendship the two had shared for years was broken now. He'd have to work to repair it but he'd refuse to bend on his relationship with Disco through it all. Tiger walked away after a moment. _Temporary wounds. We'll figure it out._ He needed some air, the tent he shared with Disco suddenly felt stifling and unpleasant. Black Cherrybomb stared at the tent and the marks in the dirt where the two had struggled and shook his head in dismay.

" This place is full of fucking weirdos." He walked away from the scene to try and find someone to talk to who wasn't going to throw a punch at him.

* * *

><p>Party Poison had walked around the bunker for another hour or so, trying to think of strategies they could use to take the camp back but also what could be hidden by Fire Frenzy that she didn't want any of them to know. It was a bad enough secret for her to be an addict, but there was obviously something far more severe. Maybe it was even the reason she took the drugs in the first place. Who said she just had to be an addict? Maybe she was in pain and took the drugs to numb it. He was reaching now.<p>

Forcing himself to stop thinking about her he muttered the lyrics he'd been working on for awhile. He wanted to ask Frenzy what she thought of them. He still couldn't find a way to take that phrase and relay what was really important. He stopped walking as he saw Fire Frenzy lying asleep in her sleeping bag outside of her tent. He found it peculiar since she'd taken the time to set the tent up and now chose to sleep outside of it instead. Perhaps it had been unintentional.

He walked closer slowly, trying not to stir her. She was lying on top of the half open sleeping bag. The nights could get pretty cold at times and he felt bad that she was being their hospitable host, even if it was reluctantly, and no one had attempted to care for her or even thank her. He knelt down next to where she was laying and nudged the cloth of the sleeping bag. If she was a light sleeper she'd probably kill him for even trying this so he had to test the waters before he attempted to swim. He pulled the cloth of the bag up when she didn't stir and slowly covered her as much as he could with it.

"What am I doing?" He sat back on his feet and heaved a sigh. Was he still just trying to get what he thought he deserved from her? Was it all just about getting that trophy he'd been denied when she'd gotten the best of him? He didn't know what to think anymore. He thought it was almost impossible she didn't care about him at this point. She'd stuck around and if she really hated him as much as she had constantly claimed to then she would have found a way to ditch him a long time ago, or kill him. It didn't seem like she had much of a problem with death to begin with. Not to mention she'd taken the time to clean his wounds. _So what if she did like me? What would that change? Lots of women like me. I should be used to that by now._ He pouted at the thought and wondered why it was this did get to him so severely.

If he wanted to be in a relationship he'd have to ditch a lot of his bad habits. Now wasn't really the time for a relationship anyway. But who cared? _Who cares? I'll tell you all how the story ends, where the good guys die and the bad guys win. Who cares? That's good. But back to the point. _Disco and Tiger seemed to be cooking something up, why couldn't he? And why the hell did Frenzy flirt with Black Cherrybomb but seemed to be avoiding even being near Poison on her own? His heart was torn. _I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll just let it follow its own path._

She stirred and shifted underneath the sleeping bag, pushing it off a little. He smiled a bit as he watched her bangs just slip right over her face and over her eyes. He couldn't help but laugh quietly. The hair in her face looked uncomfortable so he reached carefully over her to use his fingers to push them out of her face, tucking them gently behind her ear. It might only be a temporary solution, but it worked for now. He lingered close to her face for a moment, keeping his hand gently tucked in her hair.

Her eyes snapped open suddenly and she jumped out of the sleeping bag, grabbing him by the shoulder with one hand and reaching to her boot to pull something out of it. In a split second she had him pinned in the dirt with a knife to his neck. Party Poison held up his hands defensively and looked up at her in shock. _I didn't see that coming_. He did his best to extend his neck long enough so she wouldn't accidentally nick at his skin.

"What are you trying to steal from me now, _dealer_?" She hissed accusingly. He could see the exhaustion and confusion in her eyes. It had taken her a moment to even recognize who she'd caught so close to her.

"Jesus, are you always that on your guard? You were sleeping!" Poison tried to laugh but made a ridiculously comical face of distress as she pressed the blade of the knife against his Adam's apple.

"What are you trying to steal from me now?" She repeated, shoving his shoulder roughly into the ground, adjusting her leg over him.

"Hey, you stole from me too you know!"

"That doesn't count because I stole something that you stole from somebody else first!"

"No, it was still mine! You had no way of knowing I _stole_ those pills from someone!"

"All dealers steal pills, even if you paid for them, you paid for them illegally so they were _stolen_ because you're a _thief._" She reiterated.

"I am not a thief! I only steal from Better Living Industries!"

"And the women you fuck." She threw in, narrowing her eyes at him. "And me!"

"Yeah I guess you don't fit in that first category do you? I'm not a thief! I don't do it out of malice!"

"Then why did you steal my lighter?"

"It was a souvenir, I already told you that, remember?"

"You shouldn't take souvenirs from women you haven't slept with yet, and it's not a souvenir, it's stealing!"

"Hey, I give them what they want before I take it!"

"I didn't want anything from you! Doesn't that make you a prostitute anyway? A cheap one at that."

"Yeah and I'm the one who got fucked, wasn't I?" There was contempt in his voice but he still couldn't hide a little smile. "Did you just call me a hooker?"

"Fine! Fine… if you weren't stealing from me then what the hell were you doing? And yes, sleeping with someone for a profit makes you a prostitute."

"Could you just fucking get the knife away from me?" Poison suddenly felt embarrassed to admit what he was actually doing there. She pressed the knife more firmly against his throat and he could see the curiosity light up in her face. "A-and they were souvenirs."

"You're embarrassed! What _were_ you doing?" Frenzy kept the knife to his throat but had no real intention of slicing at him, though she was sure his blood would be beautiful all over her hands.

"Nothing! I was…" Poison leaned his head back on the dirt and tried to think of any other excuse but none came. He grumbled as he continued. "You had hair in your face, it looked like it was uncomfortable… so… so I tucked it behind your ear. Okay?" He said it all very fast and in one singular breath. Fire Frenzy's eyebrows shot up in surprise. It wasn't what she had expected so she just stared at him in wonder for a few moments. The insanity he'd seen in her eyes while they were standing by the graves, or what he suspected were graves, was nowhere to be found now. She seemed completely lucid. _But then again, before she went all bat-shit on me she seemed lucid too._ He half expected her to get angry with him over what he'd done but was surprised when she smiled. It was an actual genuine smile too, not one of the sarcastic ones she threw around all the time.

"You're falling for me..." She smirked, looking rather proud of herself.

"What? _What?_ No, no I'm not! You're crazy!"

"You think I'm _pretty_…" She said teasingly, pursing her lips and batting her eyelashes comically. Her grip loosened on him and though she didn't pull the knife from his neck, she didn't seem to be threatening anymore.

"Well you _are_ but that doesn't mean I'm _falling _for you!" Poison was practically pouting now.

"Oh, you're falling for me… What were you going to do next? Kiss me like in some fucked up fairy tale? Really Poison… I think you're spending way too much time thinking about that kiss…" Frenzy clicked her tongue in disapproval and moved to pull away from him finally, finding him no longer threatening. He was more akin to a love struck teenage boy than a thief at the moment. Poison didn't like being taunted, or losing in any form, so he pushed her over the moment she dropped her guard. His red hair flew in his eyes but he managed to get them back into the place they had been in originally before she'd attacked him, but now leaning over her more properly.

"_Kisses_, plural, honey." Party Poison spat sarcastically. "There was more than one, remember?" He made a kissy face and she rolled her eyes and made to push him off of her but he only pushed her more resolutely to the ground.

"Let me up." Frenzy tightened her grip on her knife but didn't make a move to hurt him. Poison made a face, looking away from her as though he were contemplating really letting her go.

"I think I'll pass." He looked back at her, eyes narrowed and his face was close enough so that it was all she could see. He was wary of the knife but didn't let it stop him from leaning down to capture her lips in his once more.

To his surprise she didn't deny him at all this time, but met his lips in the kiss. Poison loosened his grip on her when he realized she wasn't running and let both his hands drop onto the sides of her neck, brushing his thumbs against her skin as he tilted his head to kiss those broken lips he'd been tasting since earlier that night when she'd kissed him for only a second. He nearly jumped away when her hand brushed his cheek moving upward over his closed eyelid to push his dirty red hair out of his face. She held it up and out of the way so it wouldn't tickle her cheeks any longer. Somewhere along the line she'd decided to drop the knife and instead let herself fall prey to the kiss she had been _somewhat_ desiring since they'd started talking.

_Stop it, stop it, he's distracting you. What if he really is falling for you and it's not just a joke? I can't do this. You can't do this. We can't do this._ Frenzy's eyes snapped open and she pulled back from his lips and shoved him off of her. There wasn't any anger or frustration in the way she'd pulled from him. Poison laid on his back in the dirt for a moment and swept the red hair once more from his face. It always seemed to find its way there no matter how many times he pushed it away. He turned his head to the side to look at Fire Frenzy as she stood up. Leaning up on his elbows, putting more weight on the one not wounded, he watched her.

"Why did you stop me if you wanted it too?" He took a chance yelling that to her as she walked off. She stopped walking and glanced back at him for a moment and he almost prepared himself for her to throw something.

"Shut up, peddler." She continued on her walk away from him. Poison couldn't help but smile to himself and laid his head back in the dirt once more. _Okay. So maybe I like her a little._

* * *

><p>Disco had been lying awake ever since Agent Alpaca and Tiger Beatdown had started yelling at each other. She had been hoping that after working together with Alpaca for so long he would've found a way to trust her but it seemed as though the bond she'd formed with him was only in her head and nowhere else. Part of her wondered if he was just jealous that his best friend was falling in love and he wasn't. She felt bad for him, and couldn't figure out exactly why. When her mind wouldn't allow her to sleep she decided to finally get out of the tent.<p>

She walked aimlessly and hoped she could run into Fire Frenzy. Being the only other woman there, perhaps Frenzy could offer her some advice on the situation. She had a feeling though that Frenzy didn't have a whole hell of a lot of experience in matters of the heart. But, it would be nice to hear from someone with no tact. She was sure if she was being stupid that Fire Frenzy would let her know right away rather than skating around her opinions as most people did. Disco found Fire Frenzy sitting near the fire pit they'd been gathered around earlier nursing the flames in the center. Disco sat on the edge of the fire and watched her for a moment, not wanting to interrupt.

"What are you doing?" She eventually asked when Frenzy made no effort to acknowledge her.

"Making sure none of you steal from me."

"And nursing the fire, of course."

"That's what I do." Frenzy shrugged her shoulders and turned to look at Disco who seemed to want something from her. "What are _you_ doing?" Disco didn't seem to think Frenzy was actually watching them to see if they were stealing from her. Maybe something was on the crazy girl's mind as well.

"Just thinking."

"Too much of that is bad for you."

"Ain't that the truth?" Disco laughed and brushed her foot in the dirt. "Did you hear Alpaca and Tiger fighting?"

"No." She answered flatly. "I was sleeping."

"Do you mind if I talk about it? It's bothering me."

"Only if you don't mind me telling you if you're boring me or not." Frenzy was flicking that lighter again in her hands, tossing it back and forth from palm to palm between flicks. There wasn't any nasty tone to the words she said, so Disco didn't take it to heart.

"More people should be honest like that. So it's fine with me."

"Trust me, you don't want anyone else thinking like I do."

"Maybe I do." Disco laughed, but there was no heart in it. "I think Tiger might be falling for me."

"Might be? He makes eyes at you constantly."

"Does he?" Disco looked taken aback, but also intrigued.

"So does Black Cherrybomb, but I think he just likes that you're not wearing a shirt under your jacket." Frenzy shrugged her shoulders. Disco was glad Frenzy wasn't making this awkward. She was surprisingly easy to talk to.

"Well, he is constantly staring at you too, so I won't think anything of that." Disco sighed. "I don't know if this is right. I feel a tug to him, ever since I didn't kill him… Even when I stared down the barrel of that gun to shoot him I just felt something different about him. I don't know really what it is though…" Disco shrugged her shoulders. "While we… were together in the tent it felt so right but now out here in the real world… I don't know. Am I stupid for believing all the things he said about wanting a real life with kids and a wife and settling down in some suburb somewhere?"

"Wow." Frenzy cocked an eyebrow. "I would believe it, he seems the type. Too sweet to be a Killjoy I've thought since we met. Though, I think my opinion of the whole lot of you is swayed thanks to your goof ball of a leader." Frenzy smiled just a little at that and then flicked her lighter several times in a row, letting the flame burn the tips of her fingers.

"So you think he was being sincere?"

"Well, did he tell you before or after you desecrated my land?" Frenzy looked at her. Disco turned red and looked down at the ground.

"After…" She mumbled, not realizing that the woman knew what they'd done already.

"Well he wasn't trying to lie to you for you to get your pants off, so what would his motive be?"

"You're right." Disco sighed, leaning her head back. "And now there's Alpaca."

"Don't tell me you like him too. Because I'm pretty sure he would kill you if you said the wrong thing."

"No, no… He's an assuming ass hat." Disco waved a hand in disgust. "He really does hate me… I don't know what I did to keep him at such a distance… They had some kind of fist fight outside of the tent over me. I didn't hear the whole thing, but I woke up part of the way through it. I don't want to be the reason those two stop talking. They've been best friends for a long time, I've been told"

"Do you love Tiger?" Frenzy said after a moment of thinking.

"What?" Disco turned redder and looked at her frantically. "I don't know! How am I supposed to know what love really feels like? Am I supposed to just know that I'm in love?"

"I'm just saying because if you love him you should just be with him and save you and him a whole hell of a lot of grief."

"But I don't know if it _is_ love. It could just be lust! It could be fear from this whole situation. I don't want to split him and Alpaca up over feelings I'm unsure of."

"That's not your problem. You're looking for an excuse to run. If Tiger is willing to risk his friendship with Alpaca for you then you need to be just as willing to fight for him or break it off." Disco stayed silent and sighed heavily. They both stopped talking as Black Cherrybomb approached them and sat down between them, even though there wasn't sufficient room for him to do so. He threw his arms around both of the girls.

"Can't sleep eh ladies? I'm sure I could find a way to wear you out." Black Cherrybomb grinned at them both.

"It'd take more than you to wear me out." Frenzy shrugged her shoulders and nudged him so his arm would fall off of her shoulder.

"Where the hell did you find this girl?" Cherrybomb was all smiles, unable to help but laugh at her response as he spoke with Disco.

"I keep asking that too but I'm still not really sure." Disco laughed and then looked over at Frenzy who seemed lost in thought now, staring at her lighter. "You know Frenzy, you should follow your own advice every so often." Frenzy rolled her eyes at the girl.

"Okay, so someone has to fill me in. Why are the two guys from the west near killing each other? And what are you two whispering about here in the flame light?" Cherrybomb interrupted. "I know I'm the new guy, but I'd like to be caught up. Feeling sort of like the sixth wheel here."

"Disco loves Tiger and Alpaca hates Disco." Frenzy nodded simply.

"Oh, is that it?" Cherrybomb laughed at the way this woman put it so simply.

"There's a lot more to it. Thank you for pulling that apart earlier by the way. I think there's something deeper going on between those two than just me." Disco hung her head, finally managing to shake the embarrassment she was feeling.

"So I should stop trying so hard, is what you're telling me?" Cherrybomb smirked after a moment. He could tell Disco was uncomfortable talking about this situation with him. "Come on doll, you can talk to me about it. I know that I come on strong, but really I'm a kitten." Cherrybomb purred and gave her a sultry stare that would've usually affected her but all she could think about was Tiger and Alpaca.

"You two can get caught up, but I've got to make sure no one else is getting into trouble." Frenzy stood up from the fire.

"Aw, don't go… I still have hope for you!" Cherrybomb called after her and blew her a kiss.

"I'm more than you can handle. And not interested." She retorted simply, waving a disregarding hand at him, then walking off into the desert.

* * *

><p>After Fire Frenzy had left him sitting by her tent he'd decided to do some investigating into what the hell her problem was. He wanted to know what the mounds were, if they were really graves, he wanted to know why she took the drugs. He had a thousand questions and only three or four answers for them all. When she'd left he'd recalled the door he'd tried to get to in her bunker while she had been fixing his gun. Now was the perfect time to investigate it. Poison crept toward the bunker and saw Frenzy and Disco talking at the fire. Now was the only chance he would likely get to investigate.<p>

He slipped into the bunker and closed his eyes for a few seconds to adjust to the inner darkness. He didn't want to risk lighting anything in case someone came too close to the door and saw the light peeking out. He wished he still had that stupid book light. _Damn you Kobra…_ He swallowed the nerves his brother's memory reminded him of and crept to the back of the bunker. The boxes had been placed neatly back in front of the door to hide the seams in the wall of the doorway.

He carefully and quietly removed box after box of scrap metal and stood staring at the door for a long moment once it was finally freed. Doing this could potentially break any bond of trust he'd built with Fire Frenzy, but it would also ease the curiosity in his mind. At least that's what he was counting on. For all he knew, she could just be hiding sex toys or something in there. He slowly opened the door and slipped into the small secret room. He couldn't see anything at first but he could see the silhouette of a lamp on the shelf next to his head after his eyes adjusted. He found a box of matches next to it with some groping. He struck one and lit the wick inside the lantern. He closed the small glass door and froze at what he saw in front of him. A desk was pushed against the wall, covered in newspaper articles and propaganda. The walls were completely bare, but looked as though they had once had tacks in them.

Poison's fingers brushed over the telltale holes in the wall and then looked to the wall above the small desk in the corner. Eight Polaroids were lined up neatly next to each other. The borders were what he noticed first. They were decorated festively, if not a little cryptically with the sugar skull designs that seemed to flourish on them, in an orange marker.

He stepped closer and then straightened his back and covered his mouth to hide the face of horror he was making. They were children. The eight pictures were each of a different dead child, some of them horribly gruesome, others looking peaceful like they had just slipped to sleep. Each of them had the look of death on them. He stepped closer, feeling more curious. He touched his fingers over the last of the pictures. Each of them had a date on them of when they'd been found.

"So they were graves…" Poison hung his head as he realized that the mounds out in the desert had been the bodies of these eight children. Fire Frenzy must have been trying to save some of the orphans and hadn't been able to do so in time. Instead she'd found them dead, or caused their death and buried them nearby to remind herself of it. She decorated their pictures in this small closet like tombstones. _Like graffiti_. "She's torturing herself…" He shook his head and glanced downward, more in mourning than in curiosity.

His eyes flickered across the desk, finding the edges of a few more Polaroids peeking out from beneath some newspaper articles. He pulled at them but something heavy was on top of them. He pushed the newspapers aside and found something hard wrapped up in some of the paper. He pulled it open but stopped and coughed and gagged at the stench coming from the knife. It smelled like burnt flesh and decay. He covered it back up and pushed it to the side. "What the hell…" He whispered and then looked back to the Polaroids. He'd given up on being quiet now that he'd found all of this. He knew there was more to this story here, but he couldn't seem to place it. He would search until he had the answers.

These new Polaroids were of similar things. They were pictures of someone's skin. The skin was branded, burnt, imprinted with the eight numbers from the photos and some similar markings on the Polaroid's borders. Poison dropped them in disgust when he realized what they really were. _She's burning the numbers into her skin! Fuck, that crazy bitch! _She was unstable. Why would she mark herself like that? Where would she mark herself like that? He was guessing on the one leg she kept completely covered up since it would be the easiest place for someone to do so without causing too much pain.

"Is that why she takes the drugs?" He mused out loud. Hands were on his shoulders and he felt his nose smash into the desk in front of him. She forced him to turn around and shoved him off of his feet and onto the desk, holding his throat tightly. Frenzy looked insane again, and furious that he'd broken into her bunker. Poison was tired of her pushing him around. He found himself enraged by what she was doing to herself and he shoved her, forcing her to stumble. She caught herself in the doorway and narrowed her eyes at him.

"I knew you were up to no good." She hissed at him. Any affection he'd seen in her eyes earlier was nowhere to be found.

"Are you out of your mind?" Poison didn't care what she was thinking of him. He picked up the photos of the burns on her body. "What are you doing? Finding orphans and branding them into your _skin_? Do you know how _sick_ that is?"

"It's none of your business!"

"You're fucking suicidal! These are kids who've been pulled off the street and experimented on! Some of these kids have their brains blown out and you have pictures of them on your _fucking wall like some sick shrine!_"

"You don't belong in here!"

"You're going to get yourself killed, either chasing after ghosts or burning numbers into your flesh and giving yourself some fucking skin disease! That knife is fucking unsanitary! It smells like death!" Frenzy didn't respond but her anger didn't look placated in the least. "Are you listening to me? You can't do this to yourself!"

"I can do whatever I want. Just because you get to tell those idiots what to do, doesn't mean you have any say in what I do." She spoke quietly but seriously.

"Fuck you Frenzy! We're trusting you! We're trusting you to help us here and you're doing drugs and maiming yourself and doing god only knows what else! I'll be damned if I don't have a say in part of this!"

"You practically forced me to help you with this! I could've just fucking said no!"

"They why the hell didn't you?"

"Because if I don't and let you do this your own idiot way then the Dracs are going to win and I don't need them focusing on me! You Killjoys aren't very effective but you sure as hell are a good distraction."

"What, you think they don't know what you're up to?"

"Even you have no idea what I'm up to!"

"I know parts of it! I know that someone who intends on living a long and healthy life isn't going to use that disgusting knife to brand numbers into their fucking skin!"

"Oh get off of your fucking pedestal and go to bed. And if you say a fucking word about this to anyone I'll fucking put you all out of your misery before this even gets started tomorrow."

"Don't threaten me, I'm not scared of you!"

"Yes you are! You're fucking terrified of what I'm capable of!"

"The only person I'm scared for is you!" Poison yelled at her, pushing her back again. "You can't go alone tomorrow to meet your friend! I'm going with you."

"You're not doing anything. You're going to sit here and wait like an obedient fucking puppy."

"Either you let me go with you or I'll show everyone what you're hiding in here while you're out finding her." Poison knew he had her here. He wasn't going to let her out of his sight. She was unstable. He had no doubt she'd jump at the chance to die. He could just be paranoid and horrified after what he saw, but at the moment he wanted to keep an eye on her.

"Fine! Fine… but if you tell anyone, I swear…"

"Yeah, I know, you'll kill me." Party Poison rolled his eyes. "You've got to stop this shit Frenzy. You've got to stop the branding, stop hunting for orphans like this, stop taking fucking pills!"

"Back off."

"You're going to kill yourself like this…"

"I swear to God I will cut your throat." Frenzy threw him a dangerous looking glare and for the first time since she'd been shooting at him in the second zone he thought she'd keep one of her promises.

"This isn't over."

"I know." Frenzy walked out of the bunker, leaving Gerard alone with the photos of the orphans and a room smelling of burnt flesh.


	14. Haunting Reinforcements

Though the group of misfit Killjoys was unable to get much sleep, they were still able to get some, which was better than nothing considering their track record over the last couple of days. The next morning the sun rose in the east as it always did but tinted the sky gray with clouds that threatened rain. Acid clouds were more of a yellowish green hue while these were just the standard gray. As far as Fire Frenzy was concerned she thought the cloud cover could only help with their endeavor. The tents and sleeping bags had been packed up and neatly tucked away inside of the bunker and as the sun crept entirely past the fog created by the desert sands further west they all stood in front of the bunker, deciding the day's plans.

"I'm meeting my contact just outside of Battery City." Frenzy held up her hand to stop the objections of those who she could see were jumping at the chance to tell her it was too dangerous. "It's only dangerous there if you make yourself a target…" Frenzy narrowed her eyes at Party Poison who looked away innocently but couldn't help smiling as he did. "But I am bringing Poison so… wish us luck." Disco Bitch snorted while trying to hide her laughter at the expressions Party Poison was giving them from behind Frenzy's back as she spoke.

"We're going to split into groups of two." Tiger nodded his head, having every intention of spending some quality time with Disco before they got to the real danger of this situation.

"I'll go with Agent Alpaca." Disco spoke up before Tiger could get a word in edge wise. Everyone stared at her in surprise, and Alpaca himself in confusion. She was hoping that she could work with him and try to figure out what it was about her that made him hate her so damn much. She wanted to prove she was willing to work with him to get him to trust her, for Tiger's sake, if nothing else.

"O-okay…" Tiger stuttered for a moment, not bothering to make eye contact with his friend who merely turned away, folding his arms over his chest. "We'll split into two… I'll go with Black Cherrybomb and we'll search around the camp in zone three to try and find other groups of Killjoys who may have been able to escape over the past few days."

"From what I saw in the camp… there should be a good number of Killjoys who got away. They're probably hiding, waiting for some kind of word from others like them." Disco nodded her head. She was the only one of them who had a good idea of the original number of Killjoys in the camp before the rebels had taken it over, other than Party Poison who had been so overwhelmed upon entering he hadn't gotten much of a chance to judge how many of their Killjoys were missing.

"That's an excellent idea." Party Poison patted his friend on the arm. He didn't know what had transpired the night before and he wasn't about to ask questions. As far as he was concerned, as long as the personal issues didn't start interrupting the work they were doing he didn't care. "If you find anyone, send them to find Jet-Star in the slums in the third zone. The more forces we have to support us in this attack the better off we'll be. Even if we can gather a hundred people total, it's still better than the forty or so we have now. Let's all meet up in the third zone with Jet-Star by the end of the day."

"Sounds good." Disco nodded to agree. Agent Alpaca grumbled sourly and Tiger merely nodded. Black Cherrybomb didn't seem to be paying all that much attention, he was more interested in staring at Disco Bitch and Fire Frenzy. The group parted into the three groups of two, each heading in a different direction.

Black Cherrybomb trailed behind Tiger Beatdown who was shuffling his feet in the dirt. _Why didn't she come with me? What is she playing at? Did she hear us fighting last night? If she did, shouldn't she know better than to play with fire? This isn't the right time or place for this fight to be happening._ He grunted angrily to himself and then looked around.

"I wouldn't hide out in the open if it were me. The warehouses on the edge of the fourth zone… I think that's probably our best bet for finding Killjoys in hiding." Cherrybomb spoke up, looking over at the man he was walking with after twenty minutes of silence and the occasional grumble. _Talk about awkward, wish one of the girls would've let me go with them. These guys are such sticks in the mud._ He sighed in irritation, but hoped he could figure out what was going on with this man too. _Curiosity killed the cat, good thing I'm only wearing the suit of one._ They all seemed like decent enough people to him but he was just used to traveling alone, or with women. He was also sure that Tiger didn't like him because of all the time he'd spent flirting with Disco Bitch. It was harmless flirting and in the long run of things he was a really decent guy. _Or at least I'd like to consider myself as such. Being a flirt doesn't make me a bad person._

"I'm glad you know this area of the zones." Tiger slowed down his walk to be side by side with Black Cherrybomb. He offered him the first friendly smile of the day and then looked forward. "I haven't been here in years… I haven't left the west more than a handful of times and I don't know where I'm going. I guess, despite my objections, the split was a good idea." Tiger hadn't actually vocalized any of his objections but Black Cherrybomb already knew what they were without having to ask.

"Well, at least you didn't end up traveling with the fellow I pulled you off of last night." Cherrybomb gave the man a reassuring smack on the back. "Buck up. That girl isn't going to ditch you anytime soon…"

"You know about that?" Tiger cocked an eyebrow.

"Pretty sure _everyone_ knows." Cherrybomb laughed. "It's not like you two hide it very well."

"We weren't really… advertising it though either."

"You're pining for each other. It's actually kind of disgusting to watch."

"If you can see it that obviously then why do you keep flirting with her?"

"It's what I do, I guess." Cherrybomb shrugged. "I make pretty women feel good, why shouldn't I? I'm not doing anything unsavory. Every woman should be told she's beautiful a few times a day. Even if a handful of them think I'm just being a creep, I'd rather risk that than not have made some woman's day by chasing her skirt a little. And from my experience, the ones who call me a creep need it the most."

"That's a strange philosophy to live by but… I can see the logic in it." Tiger felt a weight lifted from his shoulders when he realized the competition for Disco's heart was more in his head than anywhere else. "Just don't lay it on so thick with her, if you don't mind. Things are kind of complicated right now."

"Yeah, I noticed. You and your mate don't really see eye to the eye do you?"

"We don't…" Tiger stopped in the dirt, looking lost and unsure of which direction he should head in. "I've always been terrible with directions… everything looks the same. It's all dirt."

"This way." Cherrybomb started toward the outskirts of the fourth zone since that's where they had started to begin with. "It's not much further."

"Good." Tiger swallowed hard and wondered what was happening with Alpaca and Disco. He didn't like those two as a team but hoped they could put their personal differences aside for the sake of this dire situation they'd found themselves in. He was worried they were going to end up dying because they couldn't keep their tempers in check. The buildings crept into view after just a few moments, just as Cherrybomb had said they would. "This is eerie."

"It is… I've always joked about the place being haunted but it wouldn't surprise me if it were actually true." He stopped walking after a moment and turned to Tiger. "I reckon that if the Killjoys are hiding on this side of the desert they've got to be here, or they've got to be hiding in the dunes, hoping to stay hidden behind the mounds. In this weather though, I'm counting on the fact that they could be here to wait it out in case it turns into an acid storm. The wind is getting pretty nasty and sitting on those dunes would be tough, particularly if they had any wounded." Cherrybomb didn't make an effort to move but instead reached for his ray gun and made sure it was fully charged, which it was.

"_But…_" Tiger Beatdown could sense that there was more to this than Black Cherrybomb was letting on.

"But…" Cherrybomb continued as he was guided to. "The rebels could have also been using this as their hideout to begin with. We have to think… where were they before they stormed the camps? Surely they had people within the organization, but that many people? There's no way they could've all been hiding amongst the current Killjoys. They had to have been meeting somewhere and I'm guessing it wasn't too far out into the zones, considering the toxic air that has been slowly creeping further inward the last few years… This would be an ideal hideout. The rumors of it being haunted could even be caused by people having lived here over time. But instead of ghosts, they were really just rebels planning an attack."

"Shit." Tiger pulled out his weapon and kissed the end of it for luck. _Maybe it was stupid to split up after all._ "If there are rebels in there, we're likely toast."

"Oh don't underestimate me yet." Black Cherrybomb reached to his belt and pulled out a few small round grenades, painted various shades of cherry. "I keep these around for a quick getaway. We'll head toward the buildings, casually." He nodded.

"Either way, whoever is in there, if anyone, would likely have a scout."

"If they're friendly they'll probably recognize you. If they're not… They will do one of two things."

"Yeah, blow us to smithereens or wait until we're close enough to kill easier." Tiger sighed then nodded his head resolutely. "No risk, no reward right?"

"Right." Cherrybomb smiled half-heartedly. Without another word the two men started through the thick sands toward the abandoned looking warehouse. It had long ago been used to ship goods to major retail stores around the country but after the deterioration of the atmosphere these buildings became abandoned all around the world. Now the entire United States was littered with skeleton cities of what had once been a booming empire. They stepped quietly through the sand, hearing nothing other than the wind slapping at the sand and their own footfalls.

The warehouses in front of them consisted of four large buildings, each with large bay doors in the front so that eighteen wheeled trucks with cargo could drop off their load with ease. Now all of the doors were closed except for one. They couldn't see what was within the cargo door even as they drew nearer. The hidden sun offered them no favors.

A loud creaking from beyond forced the two of them to stop in their tracks. Someone was opening a door within the building and from the sounds of it, it was a heavy metallic door. Cherrybomb and Tiger exchanged wary glances and stared at the open cargo bay in hopes of seeing the source of the noise. After a few moments of watching with bated breath two Killjoys emerged, wearing their masks and bandanas over their mouths to protect them from the sand that was kicking up more and more from the wind with every passing second. Tiger held his breath as he waited for the Killjoys to come into view and the moment he realized who the man on the left was he broke into a run and gave the much smaller man a hug.

"Fun Ghoul, you son of a bitch! I thought you were one of them for a moment there. God your hair is long now…" Tiger laughed and received a hug back from his friend. Fun Ghoul looked spent and exhausted even behind his green mask.

"Hey, hair grows, particularly over five years." He yelled over the wind and then nodded toward the building. "Come on! Inside - before the wind gets any worse! We need to talk." The others nodded to agree and the four Killjoys hurried inside of the old abandoned warehouse. Fun Ghoul's companion broke a purple glow stick and led the way through the dark corridors further into the building. She threw the glow stick down on an old crate and it lit the room just enough so they could see each other's faces.

"You have no idea how glad we are that it's you in here and not those rebels." Tiger sat down on the floor and leaned his head back against the wall. The woman who was following Fun Ghoul around seemed anxious and didn't want to sit. Her short fiery red hair was adorned with all sorts of colors and her clothing looked worn and tattered.

"Oh, so you know about that already? Guess that means it's one less thing I have to explain." Fun Ghoul pulled off his mask and fought with the strap for a moment in his ratty hair and looked up at his companion who looked eager to be leaving. "This is Detonation Punx. It was her idea to hang out here in the warehouses. Problem is we think the rebels were hanging out here before we found it… so now we're not sure if there are any secret entrances of any kind."

"Shit." Tiger shook his head. "It's probably not safe here, you're right."

"We have too many wounded. I can't just keep traveling around in hopes of finding somewhere large enough to keep as many people as I have." Fun Ghoul leaned forward to whisper. "Have you seen the others? Party Poison or Jet-Star?" He looked spent and worried. Fun Ghoul, Jet-Star, Party Poison and Kobra Kid were like their own little family. They'd spent so much time together making music as The Mad Gear and Missile Kid that they'd adopted each other. Now that they were separated and there was chaos, the concern could be seen written on their faces.

"Yes, we've seen them." Cherrybomb answered when Tiger seemed lost in thought. There was something about Fun Ghoul's question that bothered him but he couldn't pinpoint it.

"You have?" Detonation Punx finally contributed to the conversation. "We haven't heard any word from anyone since they stormed the camp. Fun Ghoul and I… we kept running into the camp and trying to get as many of our wounded out as we could! We've got a good number of people here and they're healing up but… there was no word from Jet-Star and Poison had left the day before so…" Punx swallowed hard and looked shaken by the entire situation. Fun Ghoul continued for her when he realized she couldn't keep talking.

"We've been still sending out search parties. We've grown to about… seventy six now, I think the last count was. You will make seventy eight."

"No, we're not staying." Tiger shook his head and sighed. "You… you said you were only looking for Jet-Star and Poison? What about Kobra Kid? Does that mean he's here with you?" Detonation Punx and Fun Ghoul glanced at each other then back at Tiger.

"Yeah, he's here. But he's definitely not okay." Fun Ghoul looked upset to share the news with him. "He had started complaining he was feeling like shit before the riots. I sent him to Jet-Star but he hadn't gotten the time to treat him. He was diagnosed with a fever and that was it… But he's not in good shape now. He's been muttering and sleeping most of the time. His fever keeps spiking then breaking. I have no idea what to do. I have a couple of medics with me but no one qualified for this kind of illness…"

"Can I see him?" Tiger stood back up, feeling frantic. Kobra Kid was ill, what were the odds? Perhaps whoever had given him the false information had poisoned him as well? It was a stretch but Tiger needed to know if he could extract anything from the poor guy. He had a feeling it wasn't Kobra's fault, that he'd been nothing but a pawn trusting his fellow Killjoys.

"Yeah, but he's not coherent." Detonation Punx walked over to him. "He keeps muttering things that don't make sense. I don't think you're going to get much out of him."

"I don't care, I need to at least try to talk to him." Tiger nodded. "Cherrybomb, can you fill Fun Ghoul in on where Jet-Star is? They shouldn't stay here if there's a chance the rebels used this as a base." Cherrybomb nodded his head and looked back at Fun Ghoul who seemed considerably intrigued by the sudden change in conversation.

"We met Jet-Star outside of the Killjoy camp yesterday. He's sending people in to find refugees and pulling them out. I was doing the same thing until I ran into a few Killjoys tied up in the northernmost part of the compound. We found Tiger and Poison with Jet-Star after we got out of the camp and… well, they dispersed into the third zone after we parted ways. They're taking to hiding in the slums. You should join them… Meet up with Jet-Star in waves and then you can hopefully be more properly hidden and less vulnerable to attack."

"I was hoping you'd know where Jet-Star was. I don't trust this place. I know the rumors of it being haunted are nothing but the echoes of the rebels having hidden here for so long but… I can't help but feel like we're being watched every second." The two looked around and saw nothing but cobwebs and dust. The newest thing about this room was the onlookers, the glow stick and the cobwebs, which looked fresh.

"I think buildings can tell sometimes… when something bad is happening." Cherrybomb shrugged and wiped bits of dust off of his clothing. "It's like the walls carry the stories that no one's left behind to tell."

"Well these walls probably have some pretty nasty shit to share." Fun Ghoul stood back up. "I need to prepare people to move. We'll head into the third zone during the storm. I know it's a risk with the wounded but it's likely the rebels aren't going to head out in the bad weather looking for us. They're probably hoping we'll stay put until it's over."

"Yeah, that's your best bet. Just be on your guard. Don't trust anyone you don't know." Cherrybomb felt himself growing more sympathetic to the Killjoys by the moment. He had spent so long avoiding them he'd almost forgotten what it was like to be one. That sense of camaraderie no matter the situation. It was like being a part of a really big family, or at least it had been when he'd first joined. When the feeling faded he'd scattered. Perhaps there was hope to renew that feeling amongst the Killjoys that had survived the raid.

"Thanks." Fun Ghoul held his hand out to shake and Cherrybomb shook it resolutely. "Though, I don't really know you and I am trusting you…"

"Well okay, don't trust anyone you don't know _after_ me."

* * *

><p>Tiger followed Detonation Punx through the corridors of the warehouse, into a big storage space. He stopped in the doorway, surprised to see the makeshift beds and the number of people resting on them, either sleeping or sitting up and chatting. They didn't look towards him at all and seemed to be trying to lay low at this point. Fun Ghoul had probably given them orders to just mind their own business. <em>Hysteria thrives in these situations, if they jumped at every visitor there'd be chaos and disorder running rampant<em>.

"He's here, in the corner." Tiger reluctantly followed Detonation Punx as she led him through the aisles of Killjoys off into a corner that had been blocked off by crates for some privacy. He stopped as he saw Kobra Kid in the corner of the makeshift infirmary, lying with his back facing them. His red jacket was on the floor and his yellow zebra print shirt was stained with sweat and dirt to a point where Tiger couldn't tell if it was yellow because of the original cloth or because of the dirt and sweat on his body.

"Is he okay to talk…?" Tiger felt suddenly guilty for the condition this man was in. There were others in this makeshift infirmary but none of them looked nearly as ill as the pale boy in the corner.

"Yeah, I mean… he hasn't been making much sense…" Detonation Punx drifted off and looked at the ground. She'd been close friends with Kobra Kid, seeing him so ill was really tough to swallow nonetheless explaining it to someone she wasn't familiar with. "He doesn't make much sense at all anymore. He keeps saying things about the spiders."

"Jeez, are you sure he hasn't had a psychotic break?" Tiger whispered, nervous to talk to him.

"We can't tell. He's never well enough to get a full evaluation and to tell the truth, none of our medics here are qualified in that sense of things. He needs a real doctor, like Jet-Star." Detonation Punx whispered in return. "I can't…" She turned away from Kobra Kid and whispered to him. "You're on your own. I'll be waiting just out here." She walked past the crates and took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

Tiger walked over to Kobra Kid's bed and sat down on the edge of it. The form of the tall lanky Killjoy stirred and looked up at Tiger in shock. He could see recognition in his eyes.

"Hey Kid…" Tiger tried to sound soothing but was surprised when Kobra lashed out at him.

"You, you're a traitor!" He said in a hoarse voice which Tiger was sure was an attempt at a yell. What had made him so ill?

"No, no! It's wrong… Calm down, your brother is safe."

"The spiders get everyone, you, me, them, Poison, everyone." Kobra sounded somber now and laid back down and rolled onto his back. "Can I tell you a secret, Tiger?"

"Sure."

"Come closer." Tiger leaned down at Kobra's urging. "The walls are whispering…" Kobra laughed and pushed his sweaty faded yellow hair back then gripped it and pulled it back so it was in the way of his face once more. His laugh didn't sound quite coherent or voluntary.

"What are the walls whispering?"

"_Kill them all…_" Kobra whispered before coughing. Tiger tried to help him through it but it was a struggle for them both. It was clear that nothing was going to make sense.

"Who gave you the bad information? Who told you I was a traitor?"

"The spiders know…" Kobra smiled as his eyes began to flutter shut.

"There aren't any spiders here Kobra… I need you to try to remember. I know you don't feel well, I know something's wrong but if you just _remember_ who told you about me being a traitor then… then maybe I can keep you from dying."

"We're all dying." Kobra sat up and whispered cryptically. Tiger felt a chill run down his spine. The way Kobra had said that point blank, his eyes appearing completely coherent and his voice sounded exhausted and worn, had shaken him.

"…get some rest Kobra. We'll be back for you. Whoever did this? I'm going to make sure they pay."

"Said the fly to the spider…" Kobra drifted to sleep with those last words, leaving Tiger to stare at him. He got up from his spot on the bed, grabbed a wet cool cloth from a pitcher of water on a crate next to Kobra and dabbed at his burning forehead.

"Who did this?" Tiger whispered more to himself than to anyone else. He walked out of the makeshift infirmary and past Detonation Punx. He spoke to her even though he walked right past her. "You and Fun Ghoul need to lead the troops to the third zone. Jet-Star will find you. You're not safe here. Kobra Kid needs real medical attention. I'm going to run ahead through the storm and let Jet-Star know you're coming."

"Did he say anything to you?"

"Kobra didn't have much to say at all."

"But he spoke? I heard him trying to yell." Detonation Punx's eyes were brimming with tears as she ran to catch up with Tiger's stride. "He spent so much time yelling the first night we had to gag him…" She grabbed Tiger's arm and stopped him, looking to him with pleading eyes. "Did he say anything?"

"Nothing." Tiger shook his head. Something wasn't right about his condition. It wasn't natural to slip into a psychosis like that, to suddenly think inanimate objects and spiders were sending messages through the cobwebs. "Just shit about spiders and death, like you said."

"He was fine… I don't get it!" Detonation Punx let Tiger go. "Go, go on. I'll start preparing the wounded to leave. Jet-Star might know better how to deal with this." Tiger watched the woman go and then whispered.

"I don't think anyone is going to know how to deal with it." He headed back into the room where he found Black Cherrybomb and Fun Ghoul pouring over a newly drawn map of the area. They were plotting a course into the third zone and had split the Killjoys they had in the warehouse into groups. It looked as though Fun Ghoul had decided he would accompany each group with his strongest men and they would move fifteen at a time to the third zone so they wouldn't cause too much of a scene every time they approached. It would take all afternoon but it would be well worth the move given their current situation.

"Time to go?" Black Cherrybomb could see Tiger looked shaken. Fun Ghoul averted his eyes, knowing exactly how it felt to talk to Kobra Kid in his current state.

"Yeah, we're going ahead to Jet-Star. Follow after you're ready to pack up. We're going to help you move your people. Kobra Kid needs a doctor, you should bring him first."

"Shouldn't we keep looking for stragglers?" Black Cherrybomb cocked an eyebrow.

"No, Disco Bitch and Agent Alpaca should be able to handle that on their own. This is our priority now. I really hope that Fire Frenzy's strategist is as good as she claims."

"A strategist?" Fun Ghoul cocked an eyebrow. "Rainbow Riot? It has to be her. She's the best around. She's one of the only ones left you can outsource."

"We didn't get a name, but here's hoping."

* * *

><p>Disco Bitch could tell that Agent Alpaca was not at all pleased in her jumping at the chance to have more alone time with him. He would've preferred to travel on his own, or with one of the others. At this point he felt incredibly alone in this group, but since he wanted to fight for his cause he was choosing to suck it up and try to help regardless of his differences with those around him. The only ones he could see himself getting along with now were Fire Frenzy and Black Cherrybomb. <em>Great, one's insane and one's a pervert. What does that say about me?<em> They walked in silence for a long time, neither one sure what to say to the other. Agent Alpaca had absolutely no reason to talk to Disco and absolutely no desire to either. She was nasty to him, she'd nearly left him to die in the camp, and she'd done nothing of redeeming value, at least in his eyes. All she'd brought with her since her arrival was trouble and as far as he was concerned that would be all she would continue to bring.

Disco could feel the tension radiating off of Agent Alpaca. As much as she wanted to try to figure things out between them for Tiger Beatdown's sake, his "fuck off" vibes were keeping her from starting any form of conversation. _I have to do this. Fire Frenzy was only half right. I know that Tiger wants to make the effort to be with me, but I should do the same for him._ If he still hated her after she made the effort to talk to him and sort things out, then she could at least say she tried. She was sure that the gesture would mean something to Tiger. She was hoping that even if they didn't become friends, they could at least see eye to eye on the fact that they both cared for the leader of the western Killjoys in more than a conventional sort of way. Disco needed to do this for Tiger's sake. She didn't want him to lose a long term friendship over a newly blossoming romance. In fact, she wouldn't stand for it.

"I heard you and Tiger fighting last night." She said very suddenly. Alpaca stopped walking and narrowed his eyes at her.

"I'm not apologizing, if that's what you're looking for."

"No, I-"

"I meant everything I said, even if Tiger overreacted. And I'm not going to let him make stupid mistakes."

"God will you just shut the fuck up for a second and let me talk?"

"Why should I?"

"Because you're not even giving me a chance!"

"You had several chances!"

"You've been looking for reasons to hate me since the moment we met." Disco was desperate to find resolution. "Look I don't want to fight with you anymore! I'm tired of all the fighting! Can't you put aside your petty anger for just a few seconds at least for the sake of what's going on around you?"

"What?" Alpaca turned on her and shoved her back causing her to stumble in the dirt. "You think I haven't? What the hell do you think I'm doing here then huh? If I didn't want to be doing this then I wouldn't be here! I would've run the hell away and done my own thing if I didn't believe in this cause. Trust me, I'm not letting some bitch get in the way of the Killjoys! I'm not petty like you may think I am!"

"Just shut up!" Disco yelled. This wasn't what she wanted to happen, she had tried to start a conversation but it'd turned into screaming and fighting so quickly it was making her head spin. Alpaca opened his mouth to retaliate but he quieted as they heard something in the distance. They stopped their bickering and turned to see what the cause of the sound was. A group of four or five masked men were gathering in the distance, chatting amongst themselves over the wind. The dust obstructed their view of the people arriving so how many there were they were unsure, but they could tell they were Killjoys by the bits of coloring on their costumes.

"Killjoys, come on! Reinforcements." Agent Alpaca moved to approach the Killjoys in the distance. Disco stared at the figures just beyond them in the sand; something seemed amiss. She grabbed Alpaca very suddenly by the fur lined collar of his vest and tugged him so he was low to the ground with her. She crouched in the sand as he fell on his butt. "What the hell is your problem now?" Alpaca yelled at her and then audibly growled as she slammed her hand over his mouth to get him to be quiet.

"Shut up! Just… just watch." Disco didn't know why she felt they should stay where they were but the feeling churning in the pit of her stomach was insisting she stay as far away from this group of Killjoys as she could.

"Why? We're going to lose them in this fucking sandstorm if we just sit here and _watch_. I want to take action!"

"What if they're the rebels? How do we tell the difference?" Disco hissed in response. He was at least making attempts to be quieter now so they wouldn't be overheard which was progress. Perhaps part of him felt the same way in regards to these newcomers as she did.

"I didn't think about that… but isn't it worth the risk? You're good with a gun, so am I. We can take them if we have to." He whispered.

"I don't want to kill them!" Disco turned to look at him.

"You didn't have a problem when it came to Tiger."

"_Yes I did_ in case you forgot that I _didn't_ kill him! You twist your facts to suit the theories you have about me, rather than just drawing the obvious conclusions that everyone else has come to. You _want_ me to hurt Tiger just so you can be right, don't you?"

"That's not what I want at all!"

"Then why do you keep fighting us tooth and nail on this? I'm not going anywhere Agent Alpaca, not for you and not for anyone else! I know you hate the idea but this thing I have with Tiger? It's real and I'm not going to give it up for you."

"Well, I'm not going to pretend you're the saint he thinks you are because you ask me to!"

"I'm not asking you to think I'm a saint, I'm not asking you to be my friend or even like me! I'm asking you to respect what Tiger wants! If he's happy, isn't that all that matters?"

"Shut the fuck up, you have no idea what makes him happy! You know why he's wasting his energy on you? Because he saw his life flashing before his eyes and he thinks you're his last chance! I'm not going to let him throw his life away for some crack-assassin."

"Hey, you don't-"

"Quiet!" Alpaca threw his attention suddenly to the Killjoys and Disco quieted at once. The sound of engines roared over the wind howling all around them. They could see the telltale sand cloud that followed behind the vehicle approaching. They watched as the black car pulled up to the Killjoys. Disco had to cover her mouth as she saw who came out of it. Korse, the Scarecrow himself, stepped out with four Dracs following behind him.

"We have to help them." Disco whispered, at once changing her mind about the Killjoys.

"I don't think they need our help…" Alpaca let his mouth hang open as he watched the Killjoys interacting with Korse. He couldn't hear what was going on. "We need to get closer… We have to try and figure out what they're saying."

"That's suicide. If the scarecrow even hears us or sees any sign of us, he'll kill us on the spot. We can't take him on, we just can't." Disco furrowed her brow.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Alpaca abandoned her where she stood and started crawling through the sand, trying to kick up as little as he could, only moving when the wind allowed him enough leeway to do so. He slid behind a dune, and felt Disco doing the same. They were close enough to hear the voices being carried on the wind now.

"These four will go with you. You will lead them to your outskirts and outfit them as Killjoys." Korse's cryptic monotonous voice told them.

"Yes, sir." They could hear the dulled tones of the voices of the Killjoys they had been watching all this time. _They're Dracs?_ Disco mouthed to Agent Alpaca who nodded to agree with that fact. It seemed as though the Killjoy rebels that had taken over the camp were really Dracs. It'd explain why Korse had known about the rebellions inside of the second zone a few days before, but not why he was killing his own men. Had he been doing it merely to keep up appearances?

"Were there any casualties in the fires we saw from headquarters the other day?"

"No, all the plants are still flourishing."

"No one's been compromised?"

"No one. Phoenix Fury has no idea we've infiltrated his rebellion."

"Oh how sweet it is, Killjoys rebelling against each other from the seeds we've planted…" Korse's thin lips twisted into a wicked looking smile.

"They still think that Party Poison is a traitor."

"Just remember… No one kills him. If anyone kills him… it'll be me. He's mine." Korse's eyes flashed with some kind of rage. They'd heard stories of the rivalry between Poison and Korse, but the only real thing they knew was the scar that extended from Korse's jaw line, across his face and to his hairline had been given by Poison.

"Yes, sir."

"But sir, what if one of the other rebels kills him?" The group fell silent and Korse slowly approached the man who'd spoken. Korse was limping, apparently still recovering from the wounds he'd received a few days prior. _Even the mighty Scarecrow can't withstand a rocket launcher._ Disco couldn't help but smile with satisfaction to see his discomfort. Korse grabbed the Killjoy by the throat and pulled him instantly off of the ground, squeezing until the young man's face turned pink.

"You make sure that doesn't happen or I'll tear you all limb from limb and feast on your flesh while you still fucking breathe… Got it?" There was no audible response, but just the sound of the man gagging and praying to be released to get some air soon. Korse dropped him and let him fall to his feet. None of his comrades in arms moved to help him off of the ground, but merely ignored his obvious distress. There was no camaraderie between the Dracs it seemed. They were nothing but Korse's puppets and only the most loyal would make it anywhere, or even get to stay alive.

"Now. I have weapons for you in the trunk. Leave the exits in the far west unlocked, even if you have to hide a key around the entrances. I want to be able to break in if I have to, or to send my men to do so."

"Sir, Phoenix Fury has ordered they remained locked and guarded at all times."

"Then you make sure you get assigned to the guard!" Korse said in a voice that clearly reminded them all of the threat he'd made just a moment prior.

"Yes, sir." The Dracs nodded in response to him. It was clear they'd do anything to avoid being devoured by the Scarecrow. Alpaca had heard rumors of his cannibalism, in fact that's partially why the Dracs were called that at all. It was a nod to vampirism but as the years passed by, everyone assumed it was because of the vampiresque Halloween masks they donned in the zones. Now, they both wondered if the real reason they were called that was because they fed on the flesh of others. _Or maybe they'd adapted to their name and started to live up to it over the years._ Disco Bitch got the chills just thinking about it.

Korse didn't say another word to his Dracs. He got back in the car on his own and drove the way he came. The Killjoys and newly arrived Dracs began back toward the eastern Killjoy camp. After they were out of earshot Alpaca and Disco turned to look at each other.

"Well, now we know why everyone's got a different story." Disco Bitch sighed heavily. She picked herself up from the sand and Alpaca rose after her.

"We only know part of the story. There's no way that the Dracs could've infiltrated the Killjoys or the rebels on their own."

"They must have."

"No, I'm saying they had to have help. You saw them… They're puppets. They're practically hanging from marionette strings on Korse's fingers. They'd never be clever enough to fool every Killjoy they'd have to interact with in order to join." The idea that there had been at least one Killjoy within the camps and the rebels that would turn traitor enough to help infiltrate an organization set up in order to prevent these monsters from taking over in the first place disgusted them. The concept was terrifying.

"So Killjoys… at least one of them have gone traitor. Someone is letting Dracs disguised as Killjoys into the organization."

"And it's not that green haired prick." Agent Alpaca added.

"That's right. They said the leader had no idea…" Disco felt conflicted. She hated what the rebels were doing, but she wasn't sure she would do any different if someone she trusted had told her all the lies that had been spread about the Killjoys. "Maybe we actually _will_ be able to reason with them at some point."

"It depends on what lies they've really been telling." Alpaca nodded. There was hope for the two to at least work together. They'd managed to go at least a half an hour without screaming at each other now. "We need to go find the others."

"What about reinforcements?" Disco didn't disagree, but she didn't want to give up the hunt for Killjoys that could be stranded out in the desert. She couldn't stand the idea of Korse finding them out in the desert and sinking his teeth into their flesh, pulling away skin and muscle fiber, eating it like something delectable. She stopped walking, something was wrong with the mental image she'd just come up with; something other than the grotesque nature of it.

"This is too important to wait. We'll come back out after we let the others know what we overheard. Plus, now we'll know that some of the entrances will be unlocked and where some of the Drac plants will be." Alpaca continued walking and thinking, not noticing that Disco had stopped walking entirely. "If there are plants I think we need to see if we could possibly detain _everyone_ in the camp. There has to be a way to discern the Dracs from the Killjoys. If we can find the Dracs we might be able to get them to tell us who the true traitors are."

"Alpaca…" Disco said after she realized he wasn't going to stop for her.

"What?" He slumped his shoulders in frustration. He turned to face her but didn't yell at her as he wished to when he saw how alert she was standing. "What? What is it Disco, do you hear something else?"

"No but… Korse didn't drive toward Battery City."

"What?"

"Better Living doesn't have a building out here anymore. We… we destroyed them all in the last two years. There are no more in the eastern zones. There are some in the west, but… he wasn't heading there. He was going towards the outer zones."

"…what are you saying?" Agent Alpaca knew exactly what she was getting at but the idea of it scared the shit out of him.

"What if they have headquarters closer than we think? What if all this time we've been chasing ghosts while they've been building right under our noses?" Goose bumps ran all over Disco's body as she finally shared her thoughts with the man she was at odds with.

"I think that would mean we're fucked. We'd be surrounded when they attack."

"You're right… Reinforcements can wait." Disco whispered. "We need to get back, make a plan… and find that goddamn leak and plug it."

"Maybe we'll learn some secrets of theirs while we're at it."

"It's about time we're able to retaliate." Disco agreed. The two hurried through the sand as the wind blew harder and harder. The dirt was kicking up and they both donned goggles and bandanas over their faces. The rain was starting to drizzle from the sky, only enhancing the glum mood that had come over them.


	15. Rainbows and Snakebites

The security in the second zone was tight, but the security in the first zone was more than they could imagine it'd be. Fire Frenzy wondered what was going on but didn't vocalize her opinion. Party Poison on the other hand seemed to be vocalizing it whenever he got the chance.

"Do you think this is all because of me the other day?"

"It's possible. The second zone really went crazy." Frenzy muttered to agree. She didn't think much of the security. She'd been breaking in and out of Battery City under the worst of conditions for years, since her youth, so this seemed like a piece of cake for her. She watched the walkway between the gates for Battery City and the guard tower. The buildings she'd agreed to meet Rainbow Riot behind were past the gate entrance and along the outskirts of the first zone. She found it was sometimes easier to meet right under Better Living's nose rather than out in the middle of the desert where the Dracs were always searching for them. At least in the city they had to keep the illusion of peace around the ordinary citizens. Today, though, was not the sort of day where it was easier to sneak around near the city. Dracs were in full force, completely covered in armor and carrying rather large ray guns on them at every corner, traveling in pairs.

"Hey, I've got a question."

"Good for you."

"I'm writing a song."

"This kind of seems like a stupid time for songwriting. And an even stupider time to discuss it."

"I can't help it. My mind just does these things. Plus, it helps me deal with you."

"Deal with _me?_ Are you listening to yourself?" Frenzy scoffed.

"I'm going to ignore that. I've got this lyric in mind… I can't seem to finish it." Party Poison cleared his throat and sang the rough tune he had in mind. "I'll tell you all how the story ends where the good guys die and the bad guys win. Who cares? It ain't about all the lives you save…" He stopped and then held out his hand as if to say it needed an end.

"That doesn't seem right. It's _sort_ of about the lives you save."

"Yeah, I was thinking that too. Any ideas?"

"What makes you think there's a poetic bone in my body?"

"You run around saving orphans, bury them and then draw sugar skulls on their Polaroids before _burning them into your body_. There's something cryptically poetic about that."

"You're not going to let that go are you?"

"Probably never."

"Fine. I think it should be more like…" Frenzy tried to think of something to go along with the tune. "It ain't about all the friends you made… but the graffiti they write on your grave." She was obviously joking but Poison stopped her.

"I like that. I like that a lot."

"I was just giving you a hard time, now you're going to torture me in song?"

"Yes. From all of us who've seen the light, salute the dead and lead the fight." He pointed to himself. "Hail, hail."

"Who gives a damn if we lose the war?" Frenzy cocked an eyebrow, finding this all incredibly peculiar. _This is weird, very weird. But kind of fun._

"Let the walls come down let the engines roar…" Poison winked at her and laughed.

"I'm done with this now. It's getting silly."

"Fine, fine, you're no fun…" He lowered his voice as he heard footsteps. They ducked out of sight and into the doorway of an old building as they watched a group of Dracs walk past them in a hurry. They waited for the Dracs to leave then left the alcove. "They're not like this all the time… Something has to be going on." Poison walked close to Fire Frenzy, ready to grab her and run if he had to. Paranoia had become his middle name over the last few hours. It had been terrifyingly hard to travel this far toward the city.

"Well, obviously." Frenzy whispered, merely responding to him only because he kept talking otherwise. In fact, he'd repeated himself several times when he'd been ignored, in case she hadn't heard any of his quips or complaints the first time. _Sometimes he's as boyish as his smile alludes to._

"I've never seen it like this before! Something has to be going on…" Poison's curiosity was getting the better of him. He wanted to know what was going on. He didn't honestly think he could cause this much of a reaction amongst the Dracs. Something bigger had to be happening than the riots a few days prior. Those had been in the second zone, and if it had been him then Korse would be somewhere nearby, searching for him. Sometimes he thought Korse could smell him from a mile away with how often he showed up in these situations. But as far he could tell, Korse was nowhere to be seen.

"Really?" Frenzy stopped walking. "Do you _really_ think something's going on? I've only heard you say it at least fifty times in the last twenty minutes." Frenzy put both hands on her hips and did her best imitation of the way he talked out of the one side of his mouth. "Frenzy I think the Dracs are up to something. Frenzy there's something not right here! I've never seen them act this way before! Are you listening? Be careful there are Dracs on every corner." She slumped her shoulders and held out her hands, exasperated. "Holy shit, Poison, do you _ever shut up_?" She waited for him to retaliate and after a moment he pouted, wrinkling up his chin. If she wasn't so tired of his ranting it's possible she would've found his expression adorable.

"I don't sound like that."

"You do. You really, _really_ do." Frenzy started walking again and peeked around the corner of the guard tower after she'd made sure the coast was clear. "If you're so damn curious to what's going on with the Dracs, then let's find out." Without asking she sneaked behind the guard tower and out of sight.

"Frenzy!" Poison furrowed his brow. _Great, now we're going to get caught._ He hurried after her and grabbed her arm to keep her from moving past the guard tower and beyond the fences. "You can't just waltz in there and spy on the Dracs!"

"Why not? It's just a fucking fence." She hissed. "I want to know just as badly as you do what's going on here but I don't want to sit and babble about it. I want to actually _know_." Poison let go of her arm after a moment and whispered.

"Fine, but we're going to do this the right way…"

"Is there really a right way?" Frenzy laughed and shook her head. Poison reached over her and grabbed her gun from the holster on her hip. He flipped it around and held the barrel, pointing the grip toward her.

"Guns out. That's how." He smirked. She took the gun from him with more force than necessary and then crept with him past the guard tower and within the fences of Battery City. The guards there were usually paying little attention, but today they looked like they were patrolling the border instead of staying in the tower. It seemed as though they had barricaded the entrance to prevent cars from leaving or entering without being inspected. There was more than enough room for the two of them to sneak through the barricade and as they did, they hurriedly hid behind the nearest building. It had been just in time since a group of Dracs were heading out of the gate. Another met them from the other side and they stood in front of the barrier, exchanging conversation.

"How's the first zone looking? Any reports?"

"Nothing. People are looking at today like some kind of holiday. We've told them to stay inside, to avoid confrontation and close up their shops. Store owners have been reimbursed and those shitty schools have been closed for the day."

"At least some people listen. I heard the people in the second zone didn't stay quiet quite as easily."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. After the commotion that fucker Party Poison caused the other day all they want is reparations for the damage done by the Dracs we sent in to take care of things."

"Greedy urchins, who the hell do they think they are?"

"Regardless, we got it under control a few hours ago. You threaten anyone with enough trouble and they'll do whatever the hell you want."

"Pathetic aren't they?" The three laughed under their breath.

"So when is it all going down?"

"What is happening today anyway?" One of them asked. The others laughed and looked superior that they had more information than the other.

"The IOD project is being tested today."

"No way! Is that safe?" The misinformed Drac looked terrified at the very concept. Party Poison had stopped listening entirely but Frenzy craned her neck out to do so.

"Hell if I know. It must be. The up and ups at Better Living seemed to think they were ready and that's good enough for me."

"You're right."

"Though when they tested the Widow Maker, do you remember what hell we went through?"

"Yeah, but they wouldn't make the same mistake twice would they? Widow was unstable."

"IOD was unstable too last time I heard. That's why they're kept underground."

"Are you questioning BL/ind?" Two of the three narrowed their eyes at their counterpart.

"N-no… Never." The third looked terrified that he could be called a traitor. "I was just curious to what was going on."

"Don't ask so many fucking questions then and get back to fucking work."

"Yes-yes sir." The Dracs dispersed. Party Poison knew those names from somewhere, he just couldn't figure out where. He looked up to see Frenzy's reaction and saw her looking uncomfortable and lost in thought. She jumped when he touched her shoulder and he cocked a grin.

"Jumpy?"

"Shut up."

"Come on, back outside the gates. If they're testing something in here, we don't want to become part of it."

"Yeah…" Frenzy stood up straight and looked like she was contemplating otherwise.

"Come on, it'd be stupid… we'd be killed." Poison grabbed her arm just in case she tried to bolt. She tried to shove his hand off but he didn't let go.

"I'm not a child you know and I'm not stupid."

"Yeah but you _are_ suicidal. Come on." He pulled on her and the two crept past the guard tower and toward the buildings in the first zone beyond. Fire Frenzy leaned against the wall as Poison stopped to pace and think. _At least he's finally stopped blabbering about his curiosity._

"Any ideas what they were talking about?"

"I have heard the term IOD before… I know that I have."

"You don't know anything. Come on, let's get going." Frenzy started to move away. "Rainbow Riot will be around any minute now and the sooner we get out of here, the better."

"You think I'm full of shit?" Poison grabbed her and pulled her back again.

"Holy shit, will you stop pulling on me? Jeez, I let you kiss me once and all of a sudden you think you can move me wherever you want."

"Three times and I'm talking, don't be rude." Poison tugged on her arm again simply to prove the point that he could. "Besides, it's not like you ever try incredibly hard to pull away. I think you like me enough not to shoot me now."

"I just don't like drawing attention to myself with laser fire."

"Sure, that's it." Poison rolled his eyes and puckered his lips, mocking a kissing sound.

"Will you get to the point already? You said that you've heard the term IOD? Now have you really heard it or are you just thinking of an EOD… because that's something completely different."

"I'm not an idiot. I know that explosive disposal is different than this shit…" Party Poison rolled his eyes at her. "I know I've heard it… I'm trying to think."

"So can you think and walk at the same time because it seems stupid to stay in one place right now."

"God, you're impatient."

"I think we're wasting time when we could already have found my friend."

"I think you just have a hard time being alone with me."

"I think _you_ think way too highly of yourself." Fire Frenzy shoved his arm. "Get moving." They walked slowly, creeping from building to building, getting ever closer to the old home that Fire Frenzy agreed to meet Rainbow Riot in.

"I think you're just having a hard time admitting you like me." Party Poison stopped walking and snapped his finger and pointed at her. "I got it! I read it in a transmission from Death-iNation..." Fire Frenzy merely stared at him. "We have sleeper cells that are in disguise in Battery City. They volunteer to work for Better Living and try to blend in as much as they can until they can find some useful information to our cause. He's one of our best… but anyway…" Party Poison cleared his throat. "The last message I personally received from Death-iNation was cryptic. I remembered it… simply because it seemed so out of the ordinary. It was a picture of the black widow we often use to symbolize our group and… it had three words above it with dashes in between. It said Instigate-Obliterate-Destroy." Poison looked proud he'd remembered. "IOD."

"Did it say anything else?"

"Just widow-maker underneath it." Poison added. "At the time I thought it was just something to do with our symbol. I encouraged people to mark it off of our stuff… since I wasn't sure if it was compromised or if Better Living was targeting the symbol in general. Now I'm inclined to think it's not related."

"How do you know? It could be. All this corruption, it could be linked to those words." Frenzy continued to walk now that Party Poison had finished his story.

"I was just speculating. At the time it seemed to make sense, now I'm not so sure. They said they were testing the IOD, what if they're testing this other thing too? I wish I had more information…" Party Poison followed after her, trying to stay a foot to her left so he could see around the corner before she walked. He knew that she could handle herself, but couldn't help but want to look out for her.

"I wasn't accusing you of anything, don't get testy."

"Why shouldn't I when every other word out of your mouth is a dig?"

"That's not true."

"You've been alluding to my incompetence since the moment we met."

"I have not."

"You have. Your problem is you think that you can't trust anyone else. You think that any idea that didn't come from your own mind isn't good enough. Believe it or not, I was made the leader of the Killjoys for a reason and just because you think I'm some kind of idiot, doesn't actually make me one."

"Oh shut the fuck up, Poison." Fire Frenzy rolled her eyes. "Do you really think I would've accompanied you at all if I thought you were an idiot?"

"Hush!" He grabbed her arm as he heard a noise around the corner and pushed her against the wall, holding her there. Fire Frenzy obeyed and listened, trying to peek around the corner to see what he had pulled her from. When she looked back at him he was smiling at her. She pushed him off in one swift movement.

"Oh, will you stop making excuses to touch me already? It's becoming a little much."

"I am not making _excuses_." Party Poison chuckled and continued on their walk. "If I were making moves on you Frenzy, you'd know it… _Trust me_."

"Oh come on. You may fool all those drunken girls at the bar, but I know that romance is a _subtle_ art and you… are less than subtle. You're abrasive and kind of imposing actually."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, believe me, I do. I've met charming romantic guys, and you are far from that." Fire Frenzy couldn't help but smile a little bit at the ridiculousness of the conversation they were having.

"You are the _only_ girl I've ever met that hasn't found me completely charming and romantic."

"And that kills you doesn't it? I don't fall for your big hazel eyes or boyish good looks. Sorry. You're really barking up the wrong tree."

"I don't think I am."

"Look, you only want me because I told you no. You're like a disobedient child trying to get what he wants! For example, I could tell you that you couldn't have any cookies and you'd suddenly have to have them… and would do anything to get them! It's the same thing!" Frenzy swatted his hand away from her arm before he could grab at her and took a step away from him.

"Okay, so if that's the reason I want you, then what's the reason for you wanting me?"

"There is no reason, because I _don't_ want you."

"You are an absolutely terrible liar." He grabbed her arm again and she smacked at him once more. He made another grab for it and as she went to smack his arm again but he grabbed her hand instead. She made to hit him with her other hand and he grabbed her wrist and pushed her against the wall, forcing his lips on hers as he could see her gearing up to yell at him. He took a chance and let go of her wrist, urging her hand to his chest. Not pulling from her lips, he pushed his hand against her neck, partially to seem intimate, partially to keep her pinned just in case.

She sat for a second just contemplating how to approach this. She had to pull away somehow, but he had her compromised and part of her actually _wanted_ this. He seemed like he'd be an incredibly good time but inside her brain was screaming at her to stop it. _He isn't kissing you for the reasons you think. You're getting caught up. Don't let him get to you. You're not going to get in any trouble for someone like him. If you keep letting him do this then you're going to end up dead before your time. But what if I want this?_ Frenzy couldn't keep arguing with herself while stuck in these positions. _He's getting in the way._ Frenzy furrowed her brow and blocked out her thoughts, for just a moment. Her fingers slipped beneath his jacket and onto the dirty black shirt beneath it. His lips curled into a smile against hers and he pulled back for only long enough to speak.

"See, not so terrible is it?" He made a point to not let her respond and sucked in his stomach as he felt her tiny fingers brush down his abdomen. _I could probably make a remark here, but I doubt she'd appreciate it and I don't want to stop._ Frenzy grabbed onto Party Poison's belt and tugged him close to her. He actually laughed against her lips, pulling from them long enough to give her a look of surprise. This was too good of an opportunity to resist making a quirky remark. "Seems like…" He grunted low and irritated when he realized where her hand was actually going. Frenzy grabbed onto the gun holstered at Poison's hip and pulled it out, cocking it and pointing the barrel against his neck.

"You were saying?" Frenzy habitually licked her broken and torn lips and held the gun steady.

"No, you're not getting out of this!" Party Poison laughed in disbelief.

"Really, because from where I'm standing it seems like _I'm_ the one who's holding the gun." Frenzy took a deep breath to regulate herself.

"Why do you keep stopping me, why don't you just kiss me? What's the harm in it, huh?"

"Is this part of your charm? Bargaining?" Frenzy pressed the gun a little firmer against his neck.

"No, but… I would have to say that feeling me up like that… it didn't seem necessary when you could've gone for your own gun…" Party Poison reached swiftly for the laser gun at Frenzy's waist and pointed it so the barrel was at her neck, the same way she was pinning him into place. Frenzy's eyes narrowed in frustration and annoyance.

"I wasn't feeling you up, for one… I was diverting your attention."

"Bravo, my attention is _definitely_ diverted." Poison reached to grab the gun from her hand but she tried to pull it from his reach.

"Pervert."

"You knew that before you put yourself in this situation."

"Put myself in this situation? I pushed myself against the wall, pinned my own wrists and forced you to kiss me huh?" Frenzy pursed her lips.

"No…" Poison laughed and looked down between them for a moment before looking back up. "Don't you ever get tired of being a bitch?" _Come on, let go, just for a moment._ He hoped she wouldn't hit him, like he expected her to.

"Smooth." She looked angry, but didn't react to him. He wondered desperately what was on her mind. _This would be a great time for super powers._ Much to his surprise she kissed him and rather tenderly at that. He let down his guard for just a moment and concentrated on the curve of her torn lips against his. Her hand crept to his arm, the one that held her gun and he snapped back into action, grabbing her arm with his free hand, twisting it and shoving her against the wall, chest first, watching his gun go flying from her hand. "Fuck!" Frenzy cursed, trying to pull her arm free but Poison only pushed her harder against the wall, bringing his face close to hers, hooking his chin on her shoulder.

"Oh no, you didn't think I'd see that coming did you?"

"You're so bent on fucking me I thought it was worth a shot." She hissed and struggled to pull her arm free. "So you got the best of me okay? Put the gun down and let me go. We have things to do and you know what? The world doesn't revolve around you and your wants."

"Clearly, or we would've done this a long time ago." Party Poison laughed but did put down her gun, tossing it near his on the ground. He could see her trying to catch her breath, even though they hadn't done much struggling at all. _Why is she breathing like that? Wait, why am I breathing like that?_ "Fuck this, I'm tired of your games." Poison grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him again, shoving her against the wall once more. He forced his lips against hers and nipped her bottom lip playfully. He felt her push at his shoulder in an attempt to get him off.

"Stop shoving at me." She muttered against his lips. He shoved her harder against the wall and she struggled with him for a moment but melted into his touches relatively quickly. Her heart was racing in her chest and her mind kept telling her to stop him. _Don't do this, don't do it, stop him now before it's too late. You're weak._ "Shut up…" Frenzy shoved at him again, managing to free her wrists from his grip._ I'm allowed this, aren't I? _

"Not talking… again." Party Poison was starting to learn how to deal with her quirks. He could worry about her mental stability later, but right now he was allowed to be selfish. It was such a rare occasion for her to return his kisses, he wanted to take advantage of it as much as he could. _I know we're supposed to meet that friend of hers, but god damnit, I can be quick_ _when I need to be_. Much to his surprise he felt her hands underneath his jacket again, slipping onto his shoulders. His skin broke out with goose bumps and he wiggled uncomfortably for a moment before he realized just what she was doing.

"Don't…" She warned him before he could make a remark on her actions. Her head was buzzing with emotions and arguments she couldn't understand. The best thing to do, she decided, was to follow her instincts and her instincts were demanding he get rid of the jacket he was wearing. He wiggled his arms and helped her get the jacket off and onto the ground.

"Buzz kill." He smirked against her lips but didn't push his luck. He rotated his shoulders as he felt the goose bumps appearing on the back of his neck from the chills as her fingers slipped into his hair, gripping it. He took a risk and tugged on her short jacket, shoving it off of her arms, forcing them away from his hair. He had to keep his surprise in check when he watched her help him get the jacket off. He stumbled backwards as she kissed him again, laughing against her lips, letting his hands slip around her tiny frame.

She smacked his hand as he urged it onto the vinyl of her skirt and he bit her lip in retaliation.

"Tease."

"Do you ever shut up?" She scoffed, pulling back from his lips.

"Apparently not…" With his half open boyish smile he met her lips again, pushing her back to the wall, feeling his chest rising and falling more rapidly as the tension he'd been building with her over the past few days continued to rise more rapidly between them. Poison put his hand to the wall, leaning over her, forcing her to lean her head back if she wanted to kiss him in return. Arching her back, she complied, swatting once again at his hand as it moved to far down her back.

Party Poison actually jumped in surprise when he felt her hands on his stomach, pulling his tucked shirt out of his pants. He grabbed her wrist and looked down at her in surprise.

"Jumpy, aren't you?" Frenzy mocked his earlier remark and almost looked intoxicated. This almost made Party Poison stop and move away. Her eyes were dull and she looked out of it. He pulled his hand from her wrist and put it on her cheek instead. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, knowing if he left her a moment longer without action she'd pull away. He waited for her to open her eyes again, finding that drunken haze gone, relief flooding through him. _She's still an addict. I can't forget that._ He slipped back and pulled the sleeveless shirt off of his body, tossing it to the ground. He wasn't in the most excellent shape, but he wouldn't consider himself bad to look at either. _It's all about how you carry yourself. I know I can make women want me, so they end up wanting me._

He urged his body against hers, feeling the boning of her under bust corset against his skin. She played with the necklace hanging from around his neck while he let his hands travel down her sides, attempting to find a way to pull the shirt and corset off of her. He pulled back from her lips after a moment and leaned to look at the corset.

"How the hell…?" He muttered and gave up on trying to pull it off of her and instead grabbed her shirt, tugging the zipper down in the front. She watched him and decided to grab his chin, pulling him up to kiss her lips again, hoping to distract him from the task of her shirt. He figured that while he was taking risks trying to get her naked it couldn't hurt to push their kisses a tad further either. He brushed his tongue over her bottom lip and without giving her much of a chance to respond slipped it within her mouth. Momentarily distracted by his tongue, Fire Frenzy grabbed at his wrists and tried to shrink away from him. He only pushed at her further, urging his tongue to brush up against hers.

After a moment of hesitation she returned the affection, but didn't pull away from his wrists. He continued his efforts at her shirt and finally decided to just pull the striped undershirt out from beneath her corset. She vocally objected against his lips but he didn't care. He managed to finally pull the shirt off and slipped it down her arms halfway, letting gravity do the rest for him.

He let his fingers touch her neck, never moving his lips from hers, and slowly urged them down her chest. He shoved at her instinctually and flattened them as much as he could as he heard the familiar whistle of laser fire nearby.

"Damnit!" Frenzy pulled from his lips and brought her fingers to touch the spot where he'd bitten down on her too hard which had begun to bleed freely onto her fingers. Poison grabbed her and pulled her away from the wall, hearing another blast of laser fire.

"Fuck! Fuck this timing!"

"You bit me asshole!" Frenzy pushed him away from her, adjusting her bra and corset.

"Sorry, they're shooting at us!" Poison leaned down and frantically started picking clothing up as he heard Dracs yelling their location for some backup. Frenzy picked up her gun and aimed a shot behind her, hearing a Drac yelling in pain.

"Give me my shirt!"

"Kinda… Pressed for time here!" Poison scoffed, feeling the panic rising up in him again. He grabbed her wrist as she leaned over to pick up the rest of their clothing and pulled her down the alleyway. He was unfamiliar with this area of the first zone. They'd traveled further west than he'd dared to go in years. Frenzy turned back to try and aim and fire but had to duck and pull Poison lower to the ground to avoid being shot.

"This is your fault!" Frenzy looked frantically around for somewhere they could run to.

"You started undressing me, ya know!"

"You instigated it!"

"You reciprocated!"

"I did not!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you practically ripping my clothes off was a desperate attempt to stop me!" Poison would've laughed if the Dracs weren't so close behind. Frenzy stopped him and kicked open the side door of the building close by. She tugged him inside and slammed the door closed. It wouldn't buy them much time, but it was better than running around in the open desert. She didn't stop but instead urged him through what looked like a closed shopping center. They ran together through the main corridor and into an interior store, hoping it had an exit through the other side. When the sounds of footsteps following them ceased Frenzy crouched low and started trying to pull her clothing from his hands.

"Give me my shirt." She hissed at him.

"No, you give me my shirt." He pulled hers out of reach.

"You're not running around in a bra with your corset chaffing you, give me my shirt!"

"No!" He laughed, wanting to savor the hold he had over her just a little bit longer. Frenzy jumped at him, knocking the gun out of his hand and made a mad attempt to take her shirt back from him. "Get off!" He tried to shove her off but she persisted, trying to grab her shirt from his hand. "Or you can stay… right here?" He couldn't help but laugh with her chest in his face like that but winced as the sound echoed through the shopping center.

"Idiot!" She got off of him and started running without him through the store. Poison scrambled to his feet and followed her once he realized the Dracs were after them again. The laser fire lit up the dark shop. Poison ducked behind a sales counter and leaned out only to fire his gun a few times. _Damn my priorities, damn them all to hell. I'm going to get myself killed. Worse, I'm going to get her killed too!_ He was surprised when she crouched back in front of him after moments of being missing. "There's an exit but the Dracs found it first." She whispered.

"What do we do?"

"We double back, go to the alley. There will be Dracs there but they won't expect it."

"Frenzy, about what happened…"

"We don't really have time for this."

"I don't want to just let it go." Poison looked surprised at his own words. Frenzy looked at him confused for a moment.

"Would you prefer we ask the Dracs kindly for some time so we can work out your mommy issues and my sexual frustration?" She forced a smile then rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm being serious!" He scoffed. Frenzy ducked out of paranoia as she heard the sound of gunfire from behind them.

"Will you just shut up and shoot?"

"With pleasure." Poison grabbed her and pulled her protectively close, firing his gun toward the darkness behind her. "Let's go." He felt something inside him sting as she shoved him off of her and crept around the shop counter. They ran together through racks of second hand clothing, back toward the entrance to the store. They managed to creep past a group of Dracs who still seemed to think they were hiding within the store.

"This way." Frenzy mouthed and led him out into the main hall of the shopping center. "Hurry!"

"Too late" Poison pushed her away, feeling the heat of the laser fire between them. He ran to catch up with her, having to roll onto the ground to avoid another shot. They ran together back through another store, hoping it'd lead to the same alleyway. Once outside they'd realized they'd cornered themselves when it was too late. Poison punched the outer wall of Battery City with frustration, seeing the Dracs coming down the alley.

"God damnit!" Frenzy gripped her hair in frustration and tried to look for something to shoot or any other way they could get out of the alley. There was nothing she could break, nothing she could set fire to, nothing that could save them.

"Frenzy…" Poison tried to get her attention but she seemed lost in thought. The Dracs held up their guns but didn't fire. They would be rewarded for them being turned in living rather than dead. "Frenzy!"

_That's what you get. That's what you get for trusting him. You deserve to die._

"Fire Frenzy!" Party Poison grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him.

"What?" She yelled in response. He tried to find words to tell her what was flashing through his head. _Just say it. Stop being an asshole and say it already. At least tell her you're sorry if nothing else. Say something meaningful before the Dracs kill you both._ Instead of saying anything he kissed her. Frenzy would've pulled back from his lips but something was different about this kiss. There wasn't the usual _thing_ she felt when he kissed her. It wasn't like he was trying to get in her pants. For once it didn't feel like the kiss was about the collision of their lips together or revenge for her getting the best of him. There was something terribly desperate about it. _Is it desperation or honesty? Aren't those the same thing?_

His ears were humming when he pulled away from her lips and for a moment he forgot they were surrounded by Dracs. Frenzy just stared at him, a confused and dumbfounded look on her face.

"In case I don't grow a pair before we die." Poison half smiled and held his hands up above his head. Frenzy couldn't form any words and even as the Dracs surrounded them she just stared. _What the hell just happened? What did he mean by that? I have to get away from him. I think I'm losing it. No, not like that but losing it for him. _She was knocked out of her reverie as one of the Dracs smacked her in the head with the butt end of the gun since she had ignored their orders to raise her hands above her head. She fell to the ground and saw stars from the blow. "Hey asshole back off!" Poison ran at the Drac but was pulled back and shoved to the ground by two others.

"On your knees!" They ordered from beneath their vampire masks. Party Poison picked himself up and leaned on his knees, feeling how the wind was knocked out of him from the fall. He watched Frenzy lay on the ground, looking like she was fighting unconsciousness. "I said on your fucking knees!" He winced as they kicked her in the stomach and before they could do it a second time he crawled over to her. "Get the fuck back up!" Poison flipped the middle finger at the Dracs and helped Frenzy up, watching her cough and seeing the blood dripping down her chin. He urged her arm around his shoulder forcing her to drop the clothing she'd been clinging so hard to and helped her to her knees.

"Fuck you." Frenzy spat blood at their feet and closed her eyes at the pounding of her head. It'd take a few moments for her to regain her composure from a blow like that. They sat there together on their knees in silence, waiting for the Dracs to either black bag them or to kill them for their troubles.

There was a loud blast of a gunshot in the distance then one of the Dracs fell dead in front of them. The whole group stared in surprise at the corpse, then looked to the side as another Drac fell dead. Frenzy blinked in recognition.

"Get down Poison!" Frenzy clumsily pushed him to the ground, holding her hands behind her head, listening to the sound of gunfire. The Dracs started to run and flee from whatever assailant was shooting at them from the rooftops.

"Fire Frenzy, pick up your gun!" A voice unfamiliar to Party Poison urged her. She got up and grabbed her weapon, picking up the pile of clothing with it. Poison rose to his feet and saw the man in front of them, all dressed in a black suit with silver chains and a red bowtie. His skin was pale, unnaturally so, and he bore black marks underneath his eyes. "We've got to go! Riot's on the rooftop but this place is swarming with Dracs. You're lucky Korse isn't here with the company you're keeping! Let's go! We've got a secure area underground." The man pushed his black hair out of his eyes and nodded toward the building next to him. Poison stared skeptically at the man and then realized why he recognized the pallor of his skin.

"He's a fucking Drac!" Poison picked his gun back up and aimed at the newcomer. Frenzy grabbed his arm and pushed it away just in time as the shot rang off down the alleyway.

"He _used_ to be a Drac, he's not anymore!" Frenzy argued with him.

"You just got smacked in the face, how do you know what's right anymore?"

"I probably have a concussion, not amnesia you idiot!" Frenzy rolled her eyes.

"Look, my name is Vengeful Venom and I'm one of you. I'd explain my whole story but I'm pretty sure the Dracs won't sit and wait for us while I do. You've got to trust me."

"I don't trust Dracs, or ex-Dracs. Being a Drac is not something you recover from."

"I'm sure you know so much about it, but here I am. Run back out there and die, or come with me to safety." Venom held the door open to the building. "Let's go! Time is limited here!"

Frenzy started after him but Poison grabbed her arm.

"Oh come on, he's offering a way out. I know this guy."

"I don't know why, but that doesn't make me feel better."

"This is why I hate you Killjoys. You judge and expect not to be judged. How fair is that? Venom's a good guy!"

"We don't have time for this!" Venom shouted and moved his hands in a gesture to urge them to get going. He was used to people judging him in a poor way.

"Fine! Fine…" Poison grunted in frustration, grabbing the remainder of the clothing and hurrying into the building. They followed Venom in complete darkness through the building and down the stairs. Venom helped Frenzy keep her balance on the way down. Her head was still spinning from the blow she'd taken and it was bleeding into her eye. "Where are you taking us?"

"Just shut up and wait." Frenzy muttered.

"The subway." Venom answered despite Fire Frenzy's objection. "It's been abandoned for years and the Dracs don't go down there. Riot and I have been working on clearing it out so we can use it for travel into Battery City."

"Riot?"

"Rainbow Riot." Frenzy added, pulling away from Venom. "My friend I was telling you about. The strategist, remember?"

"Yeah… I remember." Poison nodded his head, though every word was said with disdain. Vengeful Venom stepped in front of them and pulled on a heavy metal door on the floor.

"The older sewer systems are abandoned now and connect to the subway systems. We've been trying to map out the whole system to find out where the entrances are. You're lucky that you made it this far. If you were a few blocks away I wouldn't have been able to catch up with you."

"Thank you." Fire Frenzy smiled a bit and then stared down at the imposing ladder that led into the sewer. Poison made a motion to help her but she ignored him and merely climbed down the ladder very slowly. The others followed her and Vengeful Venom led the way through the cold and damp sewer system. The small tunnel opened up into a larger one, outfitted with lamps every fifty or so feet. They walked for a half an hour at the very least before they reached the old subway platform. Vengeful Venom jumped onto the platform with the assistance of a few boxes. Party Poison helped Fire Frenzy get up next then climbed up after her. Walking down the steps that led into the platform from above was a tall woman with red hair and goggles over her eyes. She held a long custom made sniper rifle over her shoulder. Upon seeing the three standing there on the platform she put her free hand on her hip.

"Well, look what we have here."

"Let me guess… You're…" Poison began.

"Rainbow Riot, that's right." Riot walked down the steps and over to Frenzy who she gave a quick hug. Venom whispered to the girl, asking if she was alright, and upon receiving a positive answer resumed being quiet. "You took a nice blow to the head Frenzy."

"Dracs are assholes." Frenzy half smiled and rubbed her head.

"That they are."

"Hey, I'm a pretty decent guy." Venom laughed a little.

"But you're not a Drac anymore." Riot straightened his bowtie.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is happening? Why is a Drac helping Killjoys and how the hell are we going to get back to the third zone now?"

"Calm down… Are you…?" Riot seemed to recognize him and then gasped in surprise. "No wonder you were being hunted. The Dracs really have a taste for you Party Poison."

"Yeah, I know." Poison sighed in frustration, pursing his lips and then pushing his hair from his face.

"Just… one more question before I start explaining things." Riot put down the gun, which she'd gotten years ago from Frenzy when they had first met.

"Shoot." Frenzy found her lighter and started flicking it again to find some clarity.

"Why are you half naked?" Riot couldn't hide her amusement at the situation.

"I wanted to ask that too, but… it seemed inappropriate… at least at the time." Venom added in.

"Long story. Give us a minute?" Frenzy held up an apologetic hand.

"Sure, I get it." Rainbow Riot laced her arm with Venom's and led him back to the stairs where she discussed what happened after they parted ways.

"How can you trust that girl if she works with a Drac?" Poison whispered, snatching his shirt back from her hands, slipping it over his head and fixing his necklace.

"Why do you assume he's evil just because he used to be a Drac? You know as well as I do that the Dracs are under the influence."

"So are you."

"Are you really going to just throw that in my face every single time that I bring up drugs?"

"Yes." Poison watched her as she reached around her corset and unzipped it. He let his mouth hang open. "That thing has a _zipper_? Damnit, why didn't you say something?"

"Because I didn't want you to take it off." Frenzy rolled her eyes and pulled her shirt back on then replaced the corset on top of it. She adjusted her coat as Poison pulled his own tattered one back on.

"You're a bitch."

"You keep saying that and then you keep kissing me. You need to make up your mind." Frenzy walked away from him. "Riot. I owe you one."

"You can just tune up my gun and we'll call it even. Now. What's so urgent?"


	16. Sweet Revenge

Party Poison had listened for a good long time to Fire Frenzy and Rainbow Riot talking about the situation at hand. He'd gotten tired of hearing the story he was living through each day so he'd tuned it out and sat lost in thought, keeping one eye on the Drac at all times. Venom was keeping to himself, he even seemed a little apprehensive to be around the newcomers. _Maybe he is reformed. I should trust her judgment by now. _He glanced at Fire Frenzy who was holding her hand to the knot on her head where she'd gotten hit by one of the Dracs earlier. His stomach churned to think about what he'd done in that scenario. _What was I thinking? I guess I was thinking that we were going to die? What would I have done if I hadn't said something and we had died? This is a mess. Life has some pretty shitty timing._

Poison looked back at Frenzy as she spoke animatedly to her friend, telling her of all that had transpired, catching his name a few times in the story, but little else. The Drac stood nervously behind Rainbow Riot, anxiously rubbing the side of his neck where Poison could see the faintest hints of a large X over the barcode that had once identified him as a Drac. _Why should I trust either of them?_ Poison drew his attention back to the women. _Frenzy's never in her right mind. Maybe she became friends with this girl in some drug induced stupor. Or worse, maybe the so-called strategist was a drug addict too._

"This is stupid." Poison finally got tired of waiting for the girls to finish talking. They all looked at him as he grabbed Frenzy's arm and gave her a tug. "We should just go. It's stupid to trust someone who is consorting with a Drac!"

"Shut up." Frenzy said simply, tugging her arm from Poison's grasp and continuing on with Rainbow Riot. "Just because you don't think they can be reformed, doesn't mean you're right."

"Yes it does, they're drugged… For _life_. You don't recover from their brainwashing! I've seen it happen!" Party Poison decided it was time to stop lingering in his own thoughts and vocalize what was on his mind.

"_Anyway_, what were you doing so far into the first zone?" Frenzy continued on, elbowing Poison in the ribcage to let him know he should drop it and that he was standing far too close to her for his own good. "We were supposed to meet near Battery City. We were at least halfway to the second zone when you found us."

"I overheard the Dracs talking about some intruders. We saw them running and figured that it was likely you causing the disturbance. I know it's not your style to draw a big crowd to yourself but I've heard crazy things through the zones over the last few days so I figured… Perhaps you've turned over a new leaf." Riot gave Party Poison an incredibly forced smile. "Little did I know that it wasn't you who had caused the disturbance, but rather the person you're with."

"I didn't _cause_ anything…"

"Yeah but you're a target and you know it. You're a big fucking shiny red target in the eyes of the angry bull that is BL/ind, Party Poison and if it had been anyone else running around with Fire Frenzy the Dracs wouldn't have mobilized an entire unit to come after you."

"It _is_ his fault this happened, but that's beside the point."

"Regardless of whose fault it was, I decided to move to a higher vantage point in hopes of giving you some help. And I sent Venom to go looking for you to lead you down to the subway."

"I appreciate that. We would've been Better Living's new experiment if you hadn't come when you did."

"No, I would've been dead meat, you would've been their new toy." Party Poison rolled his eyes. "Korse would've had a field day finding me half dressed in the first zone."

"Yeah, well then, learn to keep your clothes on." Frenzy continued on before Party Poison could interrupt and complain that she was the reason he was half naked. "We need to hurry and get out of here though. How far into the zones do these tunnels go?"

"They've been extended to the eastern end of the second zone. If nothing else, it'll give us some leeway to get out of here. The Dracs won't be looking for us that far out, hopefully. Besides, they're doing some kind of test run inside Battery City so I doubt that Better Living is going to keep looking for you. Not today."

"What is that all about anyway?"

"Oh, I have no idea. I only saw them mobilizing three units inside of Battery City while I was on the rooftops. It looked like they were trying to keep it under wraps. I don't know why they had so many troops gathered."

"We overheard them talking. It sounded like they were preparing for their test run to fail. The troops were a failsafe." Poison muttered, still shooting daggers at Vengeful Venom.

"That would make sense then." Riot nodded resolutely, for a moment letting her tongue play with the lip rings on either side of her mouth. "Now, what's this big job you were telling me about?"

"Ah, well the Killjoys seem to be having some kind of civil disagreement…"

"Civil disagreement?" Poison widened his eyes in alarm as Frenzy tiptoed around it. "Someone's been spreading lies through my camp and some rebels took over! We need to get it back and set the record straight, damnit!"

"Calm down." Frenzy sighed heavily. "You are overdramatic."

"Well, I think he has every right to be. If the Killjoys have been fucked up by some rebels that's a serious problem… The Dracs would have free reign."

"_I know._" Poison empathized.

"Yes, but we haven't lost yet. They were coming up with all these cock and bull ideas of how to take the camp back. I told them I knew a strategist who could get them back in. If you can't do it, Riot, then no one can."

"Thanks Frenzy." Riot smiled brightly, pleased by the compliment. "We should head out then. We're going to want to get to your people before nightfall. I find the best time to strike is always at night. The weather in the outer zones seems to be pretty nasty. That'll only help us as long as your people don't mind getting messy."

"Are you kidding? That's what we're good at." Poison smirked genuinely for the first time since they'd gone underground. "I only have one problem with this whole thing…"

"What's that?"

"I am not trusting a fucking Drac with Killjoy plans. It's not happening. I know you say he's reformed but it's bullshit. Dracs don't reform. Dracs don't help Killjoys. They just don't! They kill us even though we don't kill them!"

"Hey!" Rainbow Riot's face turned red in frustration, to match her hair. "You don't know everything just because you lead a fucking revolution you know! Venom isn't one of those assholes! He's sweet! And kind! He can't help it that they marked him for life!" Riot looked ready to go on a tirade but Vengeful Venom stepped forward and placed a gloved hand on her shoulder. He adjusted his red bowtie and looked directly at Party Poison.

"I get that you don't trust me. No one has before Rainbow Riot. Fire Frenzy, despite her objections today, didn't trust me at first either. If you give me just a few minutes… and a chance, I can prove to you that I'm not what you think I am. I'm not what I'm labeled to be." Party Poison didn't respond but merely shrugged his shoulders to let him know it was okay for him to keep talking. "I was a Drac. For years, since I was younger… but… the older I got the less sense things seemed to make to me. Why do we need to be drugged in order to live our lives? Why did we have to police the people who are the only reason a company like us exists? Better Living always told us that they were doing the better thing for the world. It made sense when we started. People were panicking and looting, nothing was okay. Better Living regulated things. They told us that sometimes things had to be done at a cost and sometimes that cost was to kill one to save a thousand. I understood it when I was younger but the more people we killed the less it seemed benevolent."

"The more I thought about it the more it seemed like we were killing a few to strengthen the control over the people they claimed to be serving. It isn't fair to rule a city out of fear. A few years ago, I finally got tired of looking the other way and being force fed lies. This was before they started putting the barcodes on Dracs and before they started drugging us right from the beginning. I hate to say it, but I'm the reason they do that."

"What?" Poison looked confused. He always thought that the Dracs had been labeled by barcodes to claim them as Better Living's property, to destroy a little bit more of their humanity.

"Let me continue." Poison nodded in response to Venom. "I snapped after a mission one day where we'd stormed an orphanage in the second zone and rebelled. I tried to convince the others in my troop to join me! I told them we didn't have to live this way! The Dracs and the people of Battery City… We could easily take down BL/ind if we'd all just band together! Then we could live a life free to make our own decisions and on our own terms, like we had before the wars!" Venom smiled a bit at the memory, how he'd stood up proud and for once felt like he'd redeemed himself for all of the evil he'd done beforehand. "The others just stared at me, not understanding why I'd want that. They told me that all the free will had caused the wars. They assured me that it had caused the toxins to pollute the air and that life with Better Living was just that: _Better_."

"I didn't think anyone would follow me but before I could even leave, I was captured by a few of the higher ranked Dracs. They knocked me out and when I woke up I was in a lab to be reprogrammed. I spent weeks being trained and brainwashed with their medicine. The problem was that… none of it worked on me for very long. For some reason, the drugs wouldn't stick. They tortured me for months with tests and drug trials but nothing changed anything. My health had begun to fail and soon I was just a prisoner hanging onto the little bit of life they'd left me with. That was when they gave me the barcode. I'm the first with it. It was demeaning. While being tested in the lab, I overheard some of the doctors talking about me in the hallway. I leaned against the door to listen. They were going to kill me. That was it. All my preaching about revolution and a new way of life and I'd never get to _try_ because Better Living thought I was better to them dead than I was alive. They wanted to dissect my brain and test every inch of me to find out why their drugs weren't working."

"I panicked. I couldn't die that way. So with all the strength and willpower I had left I stole medicine and some syringes then ran as fast as I could through the labs. Anyone who got in my way, I drugged." Vengeful Venom hesitated for a moment. _There's more to this story. More that I haven't told anyone. I could've stopped so much but I chose not to. I'm a coward._

"Obviously you got away." Poison asked, noticing that he seemed choked up at his story. He couldn't blame him, it was quite the ordeal.

"Yes, I did. Just barely. I decided to join the Killjoy efforts as soon as I could. The problem was, none of you would trust me." Venom sighed. "All the preaching you do about trying to stop BL/ind and put an end to the prejudice… and none of you would take a few moments to listen to my story."

"We're just trying to keep ourselves safe."

"I know, I get it. But you have no idea what a valuable asset I could be… I know things that you Killjoys couldn't possibly know, despite your plants within Better Living. I found Rainbow Riot and we worked together wonderfully. She never hesitated my loyalty, and I'm grateful to her. I give all the credit to her for who I am now. Frenzy trusts me now too, at least I think she does. I can never get a read on her properly…" Venom smiled a bit at the girl with the striped red and black hair and she shrugged nonchalantly. "Now… that I've told this exhausting tale, would you _please_ just let me help you?"

"Yes." Poison said without hesitation. "You should've come to me. I would've agreed to meet you in the desert. You could've told me your story. Showed me proof and I would've let you help our efforts."

"Well, no offense, but you are not the easiest guy to get in contact with. The only time I see you, you're running from Korse."

"Yeah, story of my life." Poison chuckled.

"Well, regardless, I doubt you would've given me the time of day unless you were forced to."

"Yeah, you probably would've beaten the shit out of him before you let him talk." Rainbow Riot added, a hint of disdain still within her voice. She wasn't so quick to be friendly to Party Poison, not after how he'd acted since they'd met. "You should be grateful to him regardless of what he once was. He saved your life just now."

"Yes, and for that I'm sorry. Things have been pretty insane the last few days. I'm not as level headed as I'd like to be."

"Yeah he's got this _trust no one_ mentality now." Fire Frenzy rolled her eyes.

"Sounds familiar." Rainbow Riot couldn't help but grin at her friend.

"Can we get down to business now? Will you help us? Now that all this shit has hit the fan… we really need to find a way to storm the base. I don't think we have much of a chance regardless. We can see how many recruits the others found when we get back. It'll give you a better idea of what we're dealing with." Frenzy folded her arms over her chest and stared down the tunnels, hearing the echoes of footfalls overhead of those surely searching for them. _What is this IOD project? Why are the Dracs so worried about it? What about Widow? They'd mentioned something while they were talking… Poison had mentioned it too. It all had to mean something._

"Yeah, I'll help you. But you're going to pay a heavy price Party Poison." Riot stood up tall, taller than Party Poison was.

"I'll pay nearly anything." Poison craned his neck up in an attempt to meet her height. He wasn't exceptionally tall, but more of an average height while this woman had an inch or so on him.

"You'll accept Vengeful Venom into the Killjoys. It's all he's ever wanted." Riot challenged. _If he accepts this, then perhaps there's hope for them after all._

"Okay." Party Poison didn't hesitate. "Look, you're taking this all wrong. I'm the one who encouraged people to let the Dracs live when we captured them. I'm the one who gives speeches about how they used to be normal people just like you and me. I am _not_ going to shut anyone out who's passionate about the cause just because he may have once been a Drac. I know your story now and I trust that it's true."

"Thank you." Venom whispered under his breath. He'd been trying for the last few years to desperately find someone in the Killjoys to trust him and he had found that most of them saw the barcode on his neck and thought the worst. Most times they just did their talking with weapons and he'd have to run for the hills. The only ones to ever give him a chance and listen to what he had to say were those who had abandoned the Killjoys to fight the cause on their own.

"We have a deal." Riot jumped off of the platform, being careful of landing near the subway tracks. "Come on, it's a good walk from here. We'll go as far as we can and then we can meet your friends in… the third zone is what you mentioned earlier, right?"

"Yes, third zone. Jet-Star is there hiding amongst the people in the slums." Poison sat on the edge of the platform and jumped down to meet Riot. Venom landed next to him and so did Frenzy who stumbled. Her head was still spinning annoyingly. Poison offered her a hand to help her regain her balance but she smacked it away and continued on her own.

The lights from the subway platform disappeared into darkness and after a few awkward moments of bumping into each other and tripping over the rails on the ground Rainbow Riot pulled some glow sticks out of her pocket and snapped them. She gave one to each person and they walked mostly in silence through the tunnels. The corroded old railways made Poison nervous. They reminded him of an existence long gone and forgotten. It was hard to think that it hadn't been that long since civilization thrived and these tunnels had been filled with trains sending commuters to and from work. Now the trains were lined up in a ghost yard which they came across at the end of the second zone. Rainbow Riot urged them inside one of the trains on the far end. It looked like it had been cleaned up enough for someone to live in and Poison guessed this was where Riot and Venom lived together when they weren't working.

They walked through the first three cars and at the end of the fourth Vengeful Venom climbed on one of the seats and pulled on a hatch that had been cut into the ceiling. It'd been colored with spray paint, a mural of a mermaid drawn into the center with some paints.

"Is this your handiwork Riot?" Frenzy smiled a little, examining the mermaid as the hatch swung close enough for her to see it clearly. She had to stand on her tip toes to get a proper look.

"Yeah, how could you tell?"

"You've always been partial to mermaids and unicorns." Frenzy watched Poison help Venom pull down a ladder from the hatch.

"Yeah, that'll never change." Riot nudged her friend. "It's good to see you alive."

"And you."

"Ladies first." Venom bowed politely.

"Oh no, Poison first." Frenzy shook her head adamantly. "He might not look like it at first glance, but he's a pervert. He'll look right up that skirt."

"Just yours honey." Poison purposely messed up Frenzy's hair, much to her distaste. He jumped onto the second rung of the ladder and started climbing. "But since you insist, I'll go first." He climbed the ladder, followed by Vengeful Venom, Rainbow Riot and then last Fire Frenzy. Venom helped Frenzy pull the ladder back up and close the hatch, locking it from above.

"Now, at the end of this car there's a ladder heading up into the old sewer tunnels. From there we can climb to the next maintenance entrance and get out. That'll be right at the edge of the second zone… You know, right past those sculptures the artist in the second zone built before they killed him?"

"Oh, I know what you're talking about. I think that's just a myth though." Poison nodded. No one was sure if that was really a true story, about the sculptures, but it had sure spread like wildfire amongst the zones. An artist who had been censored by BL/ind his whole life had dedicated his last years to creating works to piss off the Dracs and to make a public statement in attempts to open the eyes of those around him. The Dracs had killed him while he worked on his last sculpture at the end of the second zone. It was a romanticized story spread amongst the Killjoys, but no one had any actual record if any of it was true.

"I figured you would." The group ascended into the sewers on the ladder in the same order they'd climbed out of the subway car. Through the unused sewers that still stunk of the waste from a prior generation and up through the maintenance entrance they climbed one by one. Venom struggled to pull the heavy metallic cap up but managed after a moment of nearly slipping off the ladder to open it. They climbed onto the street one by one, guns drawn. The zone was clear. The curfew put into effect by Better Living seemed to be doing them a favor for once. There were no Dracs on the lookout this far into the second zone so they'd be home free.

"So, into the third zone?" Riot whispered, helping Frenzy replace the heavy cap.

"Yeah, Jet-Star should find us…" Poison whispered in response. After a few moments of walking through the abandoned looking slums, they reached the sculptures Rainbow Riot had mentioned earlier. They depicted several soldiers pushing up the American flag, reminiscent of a famous sculpture that had once instilled hope amongst the downtrodden. The visage had been altered so that the Dracs were standing with guns aimed at the soldiers pushing up the flag, the flag itself having been spray painted with the telltale smiling face that represented Better Living Industries. The sculpture had been defaced with an incredible amount of graffiti, the newest being a drippy bright orange scribble that read "_Hallelujah, Lock and Load_". Poison reached up to touch the lettering, finding the paint still wet.

"Amen to that." He turned around when Fire Frenzy smacked him on the back. He went to complain but saw some figures approaching in the dust. It was like a scene from an old western where the heroes waited for the dust to clear to see if a foe or friend were approaching from the fog. The clouds overhead only added to the drama of the scene in his head. He half expected John Wayne to step out of the mist at any moment, but of course that didn't happen.

Cosmic Karma approached with a couple of Killjoys who Party Poison recognized, but he couldn't recall their names. It struck him suddenly that none of them were wearing masks. For the first time in years, the true Killjoys were recognizing each other by their proper faces, rather than the masks they wore. They'd spent all this time hiding who they were from the Dracs with fake names and masks that now they couldn't tell when the enemy had infiltrated their borders. Karma nodded to them all politely and stared suspiciously at Vengeful Venom, her eyes flitting down to the crossed out bar code on his neck.

"Strange company you're keeping these days Poison." The girl with bright neon pink hair spoke what they were all thinking.

"Shh, Neon Acid, if Party Poison trusts them, then so should we." The man with strikingly lovely feminine features and an asymmetrical haircut added in. "I'm Screaming Extinction. We haven't been properly introduced."

"I'm only going to say this once so spread the word when we get back. This is Vengeful Venom. He used to be a Drac, and now he's one of us. That barcode on his neck? It's not a symbol of his alliance to the Dracs, it's a big fucking middle finger to Better Living. Got it?" The three nodded, eased by Poison's words.

Rainbow Riot looped her arm with Vengeful Venom and smiled up with him. She had been trying to get the Killjoys to respect this man next to her for years and finally it was all happening. She was aware there was more at stake than just his reputation. _It is a little sad that it took something so drastic for them to finally trust each other. But sometimes, for people to see the truth, something drastic has to happen._ She reminded herself of these things and then followed along with the others.

"Poison, there's something you have to hear." Tiger Beatdown ran to catch up with the group.

"Once we're inside. I don't like being out in the open. Not after what happened in the first zone."

"What happened in the first zone?" Tiger asked instinctively.

"Inside." Poison hissed. The group crept inside the cellar of a storage facility in the third zone. There were more people cramped into this tiny cellar than Poison had seen in a long time. It was astounding how many were actually managing to fit. Disco Bitch, Agent Alpaca, Fun Ghoul, Jet-Star, and Black Cherrybomb were all waiting for them inside. Neon Acid went ahead of the others and spoke in a surprisingly loud voice.

"Before anyone says shit, this guy is one of us! Welcome him as such!" She grinned in success and saw Fun Ghoul shake his head at her in both dismay and amusement.

"That's quite the entrance." Disco laughed, grateful to see everyone was alive and well. She'd heard of Rainbow Riot and Vengeful Venom before and she wasn't at all surprised to find that they were friends with Fire Frenzy.

"Yeah, you know me. Everything's a fucking party all the fucking time." Poison slicked back his hair, which stuck into place due to his desperate need for a shower. "Right, so Rainbow Riot here is going to help us formulate a plan."

"I'll need a few minutes to count heads and look at layouts of your camp."

"Here, I've got some maps you can use." Detonation Punx spoke up and led Rainbow Riot over to a table they had managed to construct over in the corner.

"So someone fill me in. Tiger, you said you had something important to tell me?"

"Yeah, so do I." Disco added in. "You won't believe what we found out in the desert…"

"Unfortunately, I have some bad news." Tiger grimaced. "We found Kobra Kid with Fun Ghoul…"

"Is he okay? He's not dead right?" Poison immediately felt his heart rate speed up. He'd always promised to take care of his little brother. He couldn't stand the idea of losing him because of his carelessness.

"He's not dead." Fun Ghoul spoke up upon seeing the worry on his friend's face. "He fell ill before the rebels took over. I don't know what's wrong with him. He's talking in riddles, it's… it's like he's gone mad. But the madness is making him sick."

"Not just making him sick." Jet-Star looked nervous and looked to Cosmic Karma for guidance. She nodded to reassure him that he needed to say it plainly. "It's going to kill him if I don't find out what did this to him. He's been poisoned by something but it's unlike anything I've ever seen." Silence followed and Poison stood tight lipped, just staring past them. He didn't want to display his emotions regarding his brother. Worry flooded through him and his instincts as a big brother kicked in to tell him they should stop everything and tend to his brother's every need. Realistically, he knew they didn't have that kind of time.

"Okay. Look, I think the only way we're going to find out what made my brother sick is if we take back the base. I'm going to pretend you didn't tell me this at all for now."

"But Poison, he's your brother…" Tiger furrowed his brow, feeling as though Kobra could die if they didn't attend to him in the here and now.

"I know! I know, okay? I love him, he's my brother and my best friend but fuck… There are… prisoners in that camp… there are… impostor Killjoys taking over everything we've worked for over the years! If I could ask Kobra what he wanted me to do he'd tell me to give 'em hell." The others nodded to agree reluctantly after a moment. "Now what did you have to tell me Disco?"

"I'm afraid my news isn't very good either." She cleared her throat, hoping to distract from the sorrow that talking of Kobra Kid's condition seemed to weigh on the room. "We saw some Killjoys out in the desert and they were meeting up with Korse. It seems as though some of the Killjoys aren't that at all… They're Dracs in disguise."

"What?" Poison and Tiger Beatdown said in unison.

"You mean they've infiltrated the Killjoys?"

"I had a feeling that fucker Phoenix Fury was up to no good." Poison spat.

"No, no! Listen… Phoenix Fury doesn't know they're Dracs. But that would explain all the faulty information everyone's been receiving." Disco held her hands up in objection, trying to get them to stop jumping to conclusions. "It seems like Phoenix Fury has good intentions after all but there's still got to be at least one traitor amongst _your_ Killjoys."

"How do you figure?" Fun Ghoul cocked an eyebrow as he lit up a cigarette, letting it hang between his lips.

"Someone had to help smuggle the Dracs in. Someone with some power too… someone we trust must have been the one to help the Dracs pass through initiation."

"She's right. God damnit…" Poison messed his hair up again and then turned away, starting to pace in a very small line. There wasn't much room for him to do anything else. "Damnit…"

"We figure," Agent Alpaca started, "that maybe we could capture them as we went. Aim to stun them or knock them out. We could then interrogate them one by one. It'll take time but we'll be able to find who's a Drac and who isn't… and then maybe one of the Dracs will crack and tell us who the leak is. It's the only way I can think of to plug the leak."

"I think that's our only option." Disco Bitch agreed with him, much to Tiger and Alpaca's surprise. "What? It's a good idea. I'm allowed to agree over good ideas you know."

"Just surprised, that's all…" Alpaca muttered and then stopped as someone shoved him aside. "Hey, watch it."

"I've got it." Rainbow Riot smirked. She had rainbow chalk dust all over her hands but she looked successful and excited. "We're going to take back the base. Once night falls, we're out of here."

"Alright." Poison nodded his head. "Game on." The group began to disperse but Tiger noted something that Poison had said to him outside of the cellar.

"What happened in the first zone?"

"Uh…" Poison wasn't sure how to start, but figured if nothing else he should share what they saw inside the gates of Battery City. "The Dracs were militarizing the front gates of the City so… Frenzy and I snuck in."

"You _what?_" Disco and Tiger said in unison.

"We overheard the Dracs talking about an IOD project. I have no idea what that means but… I remember getting a notice from Death-iNation last time we communicated. Once we get to the camp, I'll find it if they haven't torched all my shit."

"Okay… oh one more thing. I didn't want to scare everyone while we were talking but… When Alpaca and I were watching Korse talk to the Dracs… he didn't head back toward Battery City. He was heading to the outer zones."

"What?" Tiger looked surprised to hear this news as well.

"Son of a bitch, they have a base somewhere out there. Fuck." Poison shook his head and tapped his foot nervously. "We can't worry about that right now. We'll talk after we take back the base."

* * *

><p>Two in the morning was hardly when night had begun to fall but it was when the plans had finally been finished and proper teams established. Fire Frenzy had returned to her bunker with a team of people to load up on weapons and ammunition. She'd spent several hours building bombs out of every bit of scrap metal she had left within her shop. She'd also managed to teach Neon Acid and Screaming Extinction how to build and detonate the bombs from afar.<p>

The storm was raging in full force, rain was pouring, practically travelling horizontally through the skies on the gale force winds that kicked up the mud to create a haze throughout the zones. The occasional groan of thunder echoed through the skies following each brilliant flash of neon lightning illuminating the teams creeping into position.

Disco Bitch kissed her gun and looked over at Party Poison who nodded to let her know he was ready. Every member of the Killjoys was wearing a glow in the dark bracelet provided by Rainbow Riot so they could be easily identified in the storm. Poison walked up to the front gate. The two had decided not to knock, but to blow their way in. Fire Frenzy had built them three explosives that would have the force to blow the door back. One was for this front gate, the other two were for the gates in the back just in case they ended up being locked.

Poison ran forward and slid in the mud, hoping the torrential rain was obscuring the vision of the guards enough that he would remain unseen long enough to at least get the bomb set. Things seemed to work in his favor and he ran back to Disco Bitch before detonating the bomb, nearly covered in mud.

_Rainbow Riot readjusted the goggles on the top of her head and nonchalantly wiped some of the chalk dust off of her face. "We'll need a good distraction. Detonation Punx told me that the furthest two entrances were unlocked. If we can get their guards away, hopefully to the main entrance, then we can send in teams through those gates." She cleared her throat. "I'll need your best shots to do this. Disco Bitch, you're an assassin, I've heard your aim is dead on by some of the others. Party Poison, you have a reputation to uphold here so I'm going to trust that you're as good with a gun as you claim to be."_

The explosion shook the walls of the camp and sirens went off only a moment later. The gate was blown open and nearly into pieces at that. Poison looked to Disco and mouthed a "good luck" since they wouldn't have heard each other over the rain regardless. They walked casually into the camp, much to the shock of the rebels starting to gather.

"Listen up!" Poison yelled over the rain. Those around him stared at him in awe, including Phoenix Fury who was half dressed and readying his weapon. "You have two choices! Surrender! _Or_ I'll make you."

"Fuck you Poison!" Phoenix aimed his gun and fired a shot. All hell broke loose at that one shot being fired. It was like the flood had broken through the dam and they all had permission to fire. Poison broke left while Disco flanked right. The two weren't aiming to actually cause any damage, just to create enough chaos to buy them some time. Eventually they would have to start taking prisoners, but they needed to buy some time first.

"That was anti-climactic!" Disco yelled to Poison as she shot one of the Killjoys in the foot, watching him fall to the ground in pain.

_ "I know you were counting on this being a non-violent take over but I think that it's just impossible to do. They're going to be shooting at us and their numbers are greater than ours. The best thing you can do is aim for outer limbs. If you shoot someone in the foot, they're not going to be able to limp after you for very long. Shooting them in their gun arm is better, then at least you can stop them from pulling the trigger." Riot explained. "You're not going to be alone. Sending you two in the front door with nothing more but a few smoke grenades and your lasers is suicide. That's why Frenzy is going to build us some bombs." Riot pointed to the map of the camp that Detonation Punx had drawn out for her. _

_ "These little tick marks in the green chalk? That's about every hundred or so feet around the perimeter. I want you to plant a smoke or flash bomb there, each triggered in a pair. We can set them off periodically… It'll cause enough noise and chaos that Disco Bitch and Party Poison should be able to manage to stay alive long enough to allow the others to get in."_

Fire Frenzy crept around the perimeter of the camp, followed by Neon Acid, Cosmic Karma, and Screaming Extinction. The four of them carried large bags on their back filled to the brim with explosives that they'd spent the night building. They positioned the bombs in alternating order every one hundred feet. There were smoke bombs and flash bombs. Both were non-lethal but they weren't looking to hurt anyone with them anyway, just to cause enough chaos to keep the rebels inside the camp scared and distracted.

"You three need to stay around the camp okay? Watch from the entrances to see when things need to blow. Here," Frenzy held out three remote controls she'd constructed out of old video game controllers. "These each control a third of the bombs, scattered throughout the perimeter. When you think that the Dracs are gaining an advantage, set one off. Try to be wary of your positions." Frenzy instructed.

"Alright, what will you do?" Karma chimed in, looking to Frenzy curiously.

"Don't you worry about that. Stay on task." Frenzy left the three in the pouring rain in the desert, slipping her bandana over her mouth, appropriately decorated with a gas mask on it.

_The rest if you will split into two groups. Tiger Beatdown and Jet-Star you'll take half of the crew and Fun Ghoul and Agent Alpaca you'll take the rest. I want a medic on each team so Neon Rocket will accompany Fun Ghoul and Alpaca." Riot continued on. "From there, each team will split into two. Frenzy's brought us some chloroform from her bunker and I'm going to equip you all with enough to knock out an army."_

_ "Which is the point, right, beautiful?" Black Cherrybomb added. Vengeful Venom scowled and answered for her._

_ "Yes, that is the point."_

_ "Anyway," Riot chuckled and continued on. "Each medic will take over a guard tower near the entrance and use it as a fall back for wounded Killjoys. Cherrybomb you'll stay with Jet-Star and I'll stay with Neon Rocket. Detonation Punx you'll lead half of Jet-Star's Killjoys forward and knock out as many as you can peacefully without being detected while Tiger leads the other half toward the center. Fun Ghoul and Agent Alpaca you'll do the same on your end. That should spread us out the best we can and hopefully if we take more than half the camp that way we'll manage to overtake the rest of them easily even if it has to be by force. You guys got that?" The group nodded to agree. The atmosphere was starting to thicken with the excitement of a battle to come._

Tiger Beatdown crept through the rain, holding Disco's gun in his hand. Before they'd split up they'd switched weapons. They hadn't gotten to talk about what had transpired earlier in the day when she'd chosen to go with Alpaca, but they didn't need to it seemed. _I trust what she's doing and she trusts me enough to let me handle her weapon. That means something._ Tiger kissed the barrel then took the bomb that Frenzy had built for him and placed it against the gate. He waited for Party Poison to blow the front gate before igniting his own. He heard Fun Ghoul's bomb go off then blew his up as well. The gates swung open, but as they had suspected there were only a few rebels there guarding the gate while the rest had headed forward through the camp to try and get to Party Poison.

The rebels were so surprised by their arrival that Tiger and his team were able to easily take them out without having to use their guns. The camp was in chaos, people were screaming, and Tiger could hear gunfire from the other side of the camp.

"Jet-Star! I hear gunfire on Fun Ghoul's end!" Tiger shouted over the rain. Jet-Star signaled that he had it under control and left Tiger to go check on his friend. They may have been fighting but Agent Alpaca was still important enough for him to feel nervous about the gunfire. Tiger ran through the mud and the pouring rain, until he saw the glowing bracelets of his fellow Killjoys. The rebels on this end were putting up a fight. Rainbow Riot was guarding the gate and starting to pull off those rebels who were knocked out to keep them out of the fray.

Agent Alpaca was on the ground, wrestling with another Killjoy, covered head to toe in mud, minus that fluorescent strip that was shining from his wrist.

"He's a fucking Drac!" Alpaca yelled. "A fucking Drac! Listen! Come look if you don't believe me! He's a Drac!" Alpaca grabbed the bandana around the rebel's neck and ripped it away, revealing the telltale barcode worn by the Dracs. The rebels struggling against the Killjoys stopped dead in their tracks. There would've been complete silence if a flash grenade hadn't gone off a moment later nearby from somewhere outside the perimeter.

"You're lying!"

"He's a Killjoy!"

"He's telling the truth! You've been deceived!" Tiger added, helping Alpaca try to sway the rebels who already seemed half convinced. "Come look!" Some of the rebels drew nearer while others merely stared to see what the others would say.

"Holy shit!" The closest Killjoy stumbled back, covering her mouth, realizing the gravity of their treachery. _Everything they'd been preaching was a lie, it must be devastating._ Tiger knew _exactly_ how that felt.

"He's right!" One of the rebels pulled off his mask and turned to his comrades. "He's fucking right, this man… This… this Drac is a fucking imposter! We… What do we do?" He dropped to his knees out of exhaustion and desperation.

"Surrender! Once the chaos is over you'll be set free!" Fun Ghoul yelled, still holding his gun. "Alpaca watch out!"

The Drac in his arms lunged at him, teeth bared, looking furious. Alpaca fell back on the ground and grabbed the neck of the Drac in an attempt to keep him from biting him. Tiger and Fun Ghoul ran over to help him, trying to pull the Drac away but he persisted until his teeth met flesh and tore at Agent Alpaca's wrist. Alpaca screamed in anguish then kicked the Drac between his legs. The rebels around them joined in the fray, helping to pull the thrashing Drac away, blood and mud dripping down his chin only enhanced by the rain.

"You'll pay!" The Drac growled, trying to thrash and get away, chomping his teeth closed threatening to bite. "You think that I'm the only one…?" Everyone around stopped to stare at him. "You Killjoys walk around preaching a new life… a new world… free to make your own choices… but look at you now… falling apart at the seams!" His laugh echoed despite the pouring rain and gusts of wind. There was something hollow about the way he spoke.

Agent Alpaca walked up to the Drac and clenched his fist. He gave the Drac a swift punch in the gut, then kicked him in the knees. He grabbed his throat, making sure his friends still held the arms of the Drac back.

"The only thing that's going to fall apart… is you… you fucking son of a bitch. You think you can fool us again? We've got you figured out… You have _no idea_ what we're capable of you sick fuck!" Alpaca moved to hit the Drac again but Tiger grabbed his arm and shook his head. Agent Alpaca hesitated for a moment then nodded his head to let Tiger know he was okay, then started to walk away.

"…you think this is all we've got up our sleeves?" The Drac laughed, coughing from the pain caused by Alpaca. "You Killjoys think you know _everything_? You couldn't even figure out we were the ones infiltrating your camp! You think that this is the _end of it?_ You're wrong… the best of this… is yet to come."

"I've had enough!" Fun Ghoul stepped forward. "Gag the son of a bitch. I'm sorry to all the rebels who have backed down but I've got to tie you up and keep you somewhere until we've got things under control." There was surprisingly very little objection to Fun Ghoul's orders. Some of the rebels even helped tie up their friends and led them to a building that would house them safely from the rain. Rainbow Riot decided she'd set up headquarters in there and leave room for the wounded as well.

"What do you think he meant?" Tiger asked. Neon Rocket joined them a few moments later, covered in mud.

"We've got a situation on the other side of camp, things okay here?" He asked out of breath.

"Yeah, just caught our first Drac." Alpaca clenched his hand, feeling the pain throbbing through his arm.

"Holy shit, what the hell happened?" Rocket asked.

"Drac bit the shit out of him."

"Come on over here, I'll take care of this. Tiger go! Black Cherrybomb is looking for you!"

"I'm fine…" Agent Alpaca argued as Tiger headed away. He couldn't hear the fight that would ensue but he knew that Alpaca would rather bleed to death than sit this fight out.

_"Is that it? I think that covers everyone." Riot nodded. The group started to disperse to get prepared for the battle to come._

_ "Wait, what do you want me to do?" Venom smiled up at the woman he'd become so enamored by over the past few years._

_ "Just sit there and look pretty?"_

_ "Really? Okay, easy job." Venom batted his eyelashes at her. Riot swatted at his arm and then sat down next to him._

_ "I want you to be where you're needed." Riot said in a more serious voice after a moment. "I don't know anyone's capabilities here. Half these Killjoys are injured and god knows if these rebels are actually as well prepared as I think they are. I want you to scout the camp from the sidelines. Be a shadow. Try to stay hidden. The moment they realize you're a Drac they'll go for your head."_

_ "I'll be careful."_

Vengeful Venom had found his own way into the camp. He'd borrowed some scaling equipment from Black Cherrybomb and had climbed the wall after he'd heard the first explosion. He'd decided the easiest way to be able to stay out of the way and keep an eye on things was to take to the rooftops. If he could stay hidden amongst the shadows and the rain then he'd be okay. His only worry in this situation was that the fact he was a Drac would cause some kind of angry mob against him. He watched Agent Alpaca take on the Drac down in the darkness and for a moment felt saddened for the man who had been so transformed. _They'd never be this bad if I hadn't tried to rebel. I should've just taken off instead of causing a stir._

He nearly dashed into action when he saw the Drac biting at Alpaca but changed his mind. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop until he reached the other side of the camp. Jet-Star wasn't having as much luck as Fun Ghoul was having. The rebels were putting up a much bigger fight on their end. They'd come out of their houses after the door had been blown and were barricading themselves off, trying to put up some kind of last stand.

Detonation Punx was running through the houses, trying to find her way into the barricaded area from behind, hoping to get some kind of an advantage. She shrieked as two rebels tackled her to the ground. They'd seen what she had been up to and had ambushed her. Venom waited to see if she could make her way out of the scrape but as he realized they were getting the best of her he leapt from the roof into the mud. He grabbed the first rebel and swung him by his arm into the nearby building. He jumped on top of the other, tackling him away from Detonation Punx. Punx watched in astonishment for a moment. _He'd come out of nowhere_. She snapped into action and grabbed the weapon away from the man who was lying dazed against the side of the building and fired into the air, causing Venom and the rebel to both freeze.

"Back off!" She aimed the gun at the rebel, trying to catch her breath, spitting mud from her mouth.

"He's a Drac! You're siding with a Drac?" The rebel hissed, his lip trembling in frustration. Venom dropped the Killjoy to the ground and stared at Detonation Punx for a response.

"He's more of a Killjoy than you are, asshole." She walked over to the rebel and pulled a cloth drenched in chloroform out of her pocket. She held it to his mouth and in a moment his objections completely died.

"Thank you." Venom looked surprised at the kindness from the Killjoys he was helping. None had ever trusted him before this and now suddenly they were defending him.

"Thank you." Punx held out her hand. "Now go! Up front! They're having a lot tougher of a time than we are! I've got it from here!" Black Cherrybomb caught up to Detonation Punx after a moment and helped her drag off the two unconscious rebels to safety.

"We'll smoke grenade them from behind. They probably didn't think I'd make it past their guards…" Detonation Punx's voice disappeared on the wind. Venom used the window sill to help prop him up then climbed back onto the roof. He headed toward the front of the camp. They were right, he had a job to do and things seemed to be under control thanks to Black Cherrybomb and Detonation Punx.

_"Frenzy, can I talk to you for a moment?" Riot sat down next to the woman who was building the bombs for their project. She looked exhausted and disheveled, almost manic._

_ "As long as you don't expect me to make anything else for this ridiculous project, then sure." Frenzy mumbled with wire in her teeth, pulling the coating off of the edges so that she could attach it to another piece._

_ "No, that's not it. When you're done planting the bombs I just want to ask you to do something for me."_

_ "Like what?"_

_ "Just don't do anything stupid. Stay outside the perimeter."_

_ "Define stupid."_

_ "Don't run through the front gate and start shooting."_

_ "Why not? You asked Disco and Poison to do so and you know I'm just as good a shot."_

_ "They're not going through withdrawal though."_

_ "Neither am I. I stocked up when I went to get weapons. That's none of your business by the way. We've been through this plenty of times." Frenzy rolled her eyes. "I'm going to do what I want. You know that so why are you wasting your breath?"_

_ "Yes, but I figured I'd just warn you. Try to lay low. You have this way of… pissing people off."_

_ "I know, and they wonder why I keep to myself." Frenzy nudged her with her elbow. "I'm fine."_

_ "I think you have a concussion quite honestly."_

_ "I probably do. But I'm not sleeping, so it's fine."_

_ "Just… be careful."_

_ "What is with you people? I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Now go away. I'm busy."_

_ "Okay, okay."_

Frenzy left Karma, Extinction and Acid to do their job with the bombs. She wasn't going to miss out on the action going on inside of the camp. Not to mention she didn't exactly trust Poison and Disco to keep all of those Killjoys at bay, not when everyone had done so poorly the day before.

Party Poison and Disco Bitch had split to opposite ends of the camp's entrance. Disco seemed to be handling herself decently from what she could see. Frenzy crept forward and fired a few shots to help Disco out. Disco gave her a thumbs up in gratitude.

"You doing alright?" Frenzy mouthed to her. Disco nodded and delivered a right hook to a rebel that got too close. The rebel fell to the ground, his feet flying right out from under him with the momentum of the punch. Frenzy found herself fighting against a slew of rebels on her own now. They'd realized that all the Killjoys wearing glow sticks were their enemies, which wasn't that hard to figure out. It seemed like there were more people unconscious on the ground than there were fighting. Frenzy had to step carefully to keep from tripping over people, doing her best to just duck around the laser fire rather than take anyone out. Frenzy made her way to the other end of the camp, looking for Party Poison. She finally spotted him in a strike of lightning, taking a blow to the face from Phoenix Fury but managing to keep his footing.

Poison had lost his gun, but so had Phoenix Fury. The two seemed to perfectly okay with that it seemed since they were exchanging blows and throwing each other in the mud. Frenzy decided to stay from afar and pick off the rebels who were trying to get in on the action. She ducked behind the remains of the fallen guard tower and fired her laser from there, having to clean the sight every few moments to free it of the water droplets that obscured her vision.

Phoenix was bigger overall than Poison was so he had an advantage over him, but Poison was faster. The two exchanged and dodged blows, falling back and getting back up.

"Listen to me, Phoenix Fury! You're being duped! There are Dracs amongst you! They're feeding you lies about me and Tiger!"

"Why should I believe you? All you've done is lie since the very beginning!" Phoenix shoved at Poison and growled in frustration as the man ducked another blow. "Slippery little fuck, fight like a man!"

"You should believe me because it's _true_ god damnit! Your men are falling! You can stop this right here and right now! Tell them to stand down!" Poison kicked Phoenix in the gut, grabbed his arm and swung him around watching him fall face first into the mud. "And how's that for fighting like a man, asshole?" Poison wiped the blood away from his lips. He was pretty sure his face was going to be half bruised in the morning. He had been able to dodge the majority of the blows from Phoenix Fury but the few he hadn't been able to dodge hurt like hell. The man was all bulk. _After this I really have to start working out again, this is ridiculous._

Phoenix Fury pushed himself up out of the mud and lunged at Party Poison who dodged him again, but only narrowly. Poison stumbled forward and nearly tripped. Phoenix punched the ground out of anger then got up, having found his gun in the mud. He pointed it at Poison, seeing red.

"You can take my men down all you like but I'll have your fucking head!"

"So much for preaching non-violence! See logic! Holy shit! Look! I'll make you a fucking deal!" Poison held up his hands as a sign of a temporary truce. "At least give me a chance to talk! If you still think I'm wrong I will let you and all of your men go! You have my word!" Phoenix looked like he was contemplating what he said.

"Here's the problem Poison! Your word means shit!"

"But that's where you're wrong! The Dracs _lied _to you! God I know you're some kind of fucking anti-establishment political punk-ass meat head but listen to reason! I can tell you're doubting things you thought were true!" Poison took a step forward but fell back onto the ground as a shot rang off, hitting him right in the shoulder. "Fucking shit!" Poison grabbed his arm and howled in pain.

"Who fired? Who fired the fucking shot?" Phoenix Fury shouted, turning around.

Vengeful Venom jumped from the roof nearby and shot at Phoenix Fury who ducked and returned fire. Any truce that may have been struck between the two groups was thrown to the wind and the firing renewed. People were crowding around Party Poison now on the ground. He groped around for his gun and shoved it into his left hand.

"Shit, shit!" Poison slipped in the mud as he attempted to push himself to his feet. He rolled out of the way and narrowly avoided a shot. He wiped the mud off of his brow and saw that Vengeful Venom was quickly becoming overwhelmed. _The idiot! He's a Drac, they're going to pull him apart! Time to get up_. Poison struggled but found someone tugging on his arm. Instinctively he pulled it away.

"God damnit, Poison!" Frenzy slipped in the mud and then turned on her back, leaning against him to fire off a few shots. Poison watched two of the rebels fall to the ground from her shots.

"Sorry! Instincts! Next time announce yourself instead of acting like a fucking mouse!" Poison watched Frenzy get up and did as much as he could to help get himself up off of the ground without pulling her down.

"Your gun arm's all fucked up." She tugged on his jacket which was ruined at this point. The wound was singed but bleeding freely.

"I'm not done fighting yet!" Poison shot with his left hand at some of the rebels coming at them, pulling her with him to make sure they both dodged blows being shot at them. "Sounds fucking stupid but when Kobra and I used to get drunk we'd try shooting with our other hands! Guess it's coming in handy now!"

"You're still weak!" Frenzy hissed at him and threw his wounded arm around her shoulder to support him the best she could.

"So what, you're going to be my right hand now?" Poison winced and leaned against her.

"As long as you don't make a gross joke to follow that up, then yes." Frenzy whispered and then fired at one of the rebels going for Vengeful Venom.

"We've got to help Venom. He's a target now!"

"Yeah, tell me about it. Stupid Drac." Frenzy started with him toward the fray Vengeful Venom had found himself in. They had to give it to him, even though he'd been disarmed he was putting up quite the fight. Disco Bitch was making her way toward him as well. The fight was starting to die down elsewhere.

"Poison!" Phoenix Fury shouted from behind them.

"Down!" Frenzy yelled, pulling on Poison who complied as a shot rang overhead. Phoenix Fury's gun was smoking from the shot he'd fired at them.

"You fucker! You tell me Dracs have infiltrated my army when you're the one _working with them?_" Phoenix shouted, firing another shot. Clearly the man felt betrayed and Poison couldn't blame him even if he was frustrated.

"Oh I'm so unbelievably done with this bullshit." Poison groaned, using Frenzy to get up.

"You can't fight him with your arm all fucked up. He's stronger than you."

"Thanks for having some faith in me."

"Let me do it." Frenzy shrugged.

"He's stronger than you too."

"You don't know that." Frenzy smirked and fired another shot behind them to help out Vengeful Venom.

"Hell I don't! You're fucking tiny!"

"Hold my gun." She handed Poison her gun and then pulled the weapon off of her back. "I've been dying to use this." She flipped a knob on the side then squeezed the trigger. A three foot blast of flame came bursting out of the end of the gun. She slid in the mud toward Phoenix Fury and watched him fall back in surprise. She leaned the gun down far enough to catch some of the debris on the ground on fire. The smoke would distract if nothing else. The rain would put the fire out relatively quickly but it would only cause more smoke to help out her cause. Frenzy walked over to where Phoenix was groping for his gun on the ground and pointed the red hot metallic barrel of the gun toward his neck.

"Make one more move and your newest tattoo is going to be the barrel of my fucking gun." She hissed.

"Frenzy!" Disco shouted, hurrying over to her side. The cavalry had finally arrived from the back of the camp. The rebels were overtaken and Party Poison had his camp back. "Put down the gun, we won."

"Do I have to?" Frenzy pushed the molten barrel closer to Phoenix's throat. "I think he deserves to pay."

"I didn't do anything!"

"Your men are so unorganized they fired while you were trying to find _peace_ amongst the two opposing forces here! _Then_ you fired on a man whose arm is clearly incapacitated! I'm sure you did a whole hell of a lot of nothing. Maybe that's the fucking problem!" Frenzy spat next to his head.

"We need him." Disco whispered. Frenzy pushed the gun out of the way and then turned away.

"You're lucky we do need you, or I would've burned you fucking alive." Frenzy threw her flame thrower on the ground and walked back over to Party Poison who was just standing staring holding both weapons, his eyebrows high on his forehead.

"That was impressive." Poison smiled a little bit, choosing his words wisely.

"Oh shut up."

"I was complimenting you." Poison handed her the gun she'd given to him. She took it and holstered it. "I think you did it because you're upset I'm hurt."

"Once again you just think too damn highly of yourself." Frenzy grabbed his wounded arm and propped it over her shoulder once again. "Let's go find Jet-Star."


	17. In the Blood

The rain and wind continued until the sun began to emerge over the horizon and past the hazy fog of the outer zones. By noon the sun had crept up high into the sky and filled the world with the usual blazing heat that the Killjoys had grown accustomed to in the desert. The last of the clouds had cleared up while more built on the horizon, threatening to rain on them again later that night. It had taken hours to get the camp back in working order. The interrogations of every member of the rebels and those who had remained in the camp after the initial takeover would take at least the entire day while the efforts to protect their borders and repair the damage done in the various battles would take at least twice that. It was too big of a risk to let the damage go when the Dracs were on the move in the desert.

Party Poison had been surprised at how few rebels and killjoys had been hurt in the huge battle that had taken place in the early hours of the morning, but was proud to know that his men and women had managed to use non-lethal tactics for the most part. Poison realized, once the count had been done, that he had, in fact, done the most damage out of all of his men. It wasn't a big surprise to him since he'd been the main target when he'd kicked down the front gate, so to speak. He'd shot a lot of rebels in the arms and legs just so that he could lower the risk of his own damage.

He'd gone to the infirmary under the guise of dealing with the wound on his arm when he truly had no intentions of dealing with it. It had long ago stopped bleeding and he'd refused immediate treatment even though nearly everyone had given him the third degree for it. There were others who needed the treatment more than he did, as far as he was concerned. He wasn't planning on firing a gun for a little while so he wasn't concerned with the wound, particularly since it had stopped bleeding and had gone completely numb in the last few hours. _I know that's probably bad, but there are more important things than flesh and blood so it just has to wait until I'm sure everything is in order._

Poison had assigned Fun Ghoul and Jet-Star to oversee the interrogation process of those they had captured while Cosmic Karma and Tiger Beatdown helped keep things in line. They had decided to start their membership records over after all that had happened. Poison and Tiger had agreed that the way they kept track of people was flawed and now they would have a much more efficient system that would hopefully keep traitors out of the camps and prevent something like this from happening ever again. _That's if we keep doing things the right way and don't let shit slip between the cracks like so many times before._ He hadn't realized just how badly their system had failed until he'd start looking at the paperwork and found half the files were either empty, mislabeled, or half the Killjoys on record didn't have a photo or a drawing to accompany them. Half of them weren't registered in the database at all; the entire system was a mess.

_There's no time to be ashamed of that bullshit now. What's done is done. All I can do now is keep it from happening again and do my best._ Poison had declined to sit and eat with Disco Bitch, Agent Alpaca, Vengeful Venom, Rainbow Riot and Black Cherrybomb and had instead decided to go and visit his brother which he'd hidden under the excuse of being injured. Fire Frenzy had disappeared a few hours back and he figured he should let her have some time to herself anyway, despite the fact that he desperately wanted to go and taunt her about the way she had jumped to his rescue like his knight in shining armor on the battlefield.

He'd instead decided to see just how bad his brother's condition was. He'd heard people whispering about Kobra Kid's mysterious illness but he wanted to see for himself and hear this talk about the spiders and cobwebs on the walls with his own ears. He thought people were making shit up at this point. Kobra had always hated spiders. In fact, he'd made Poison wake up countless times in the middle of the night just to kill the damn things when they got into his room.

It wouldn't surprise him if he was just reverting to some fear of spiders from his youth. There could be so much more behind it too though, but Poison didn't want to jump to any conclusions until he actually spoke to his brother. He'd found it was best to form opinions around facts and not the other way around. The infirmary was busy and bustling. Poison had wrapped some gauze lazily around his wound, but knew that before he could really rest he'd have to take a proper look at it. Right now, his bleeding didn't seem incredibly important.

He found Kobra Kid isolated behind a curtain divider in the far corner of the infirmary, hidden from view of those coming and going. Jet-Star had told him earlier in the day that the more he saw and heard of people, the more manic Kobra became. Kobra was lying with his eyes closed on the bed, looking pale and exhausted. He wasn't sure if it was possible, but he looked thinner than he had been just a couple days prior. _Fuck, I knew it was bad but I didn't expect it to be this bad._

Party Poison merely stared at him for a few moments, unsure of what to say. He eventually sat down on the edge of the gurney once he was sure his brother wasn't going to flip out as he did. Kobra actually scooted over a little bit, to make room for him. Poison pulled his legs up and sat cross legged, staring away from Kobra. He never thought he'd be here, next to his brother who'd become so ill. He'd been fine when he'd left, even condescending. There hadn't even been a hint of something wrong with him. Now he looked near death. It took him a good half an hour before he could manage to say anything at all. The weight of the situation was finally settling on his shoulders right next to the stress caused by the rebels and the Dracs.

"I wish you'd be okay." Poison couldn't think of what else to say. Kobra didn't respond, but did turn his head and open his eyes to look at his brother. His eyes were blood shot and looked dry and painful as though he'd been crying for hours. "What the hell happened to you, huh? One minute you're warning me not to go chasing an arsonist and the next you're down for the count. Who did this to you? What did this to you?" Kobra still didn't respond so Poison just swayed back and forth for a few moments, trying to think of something that could illicit a reaction from his brother.

"I miss you." Party Poison looked back at his brother, leaning on his left arm to support himself properly. "There's so much that's happened in the last few days and you have no idea. I've done some really stupid things… You'd be so mad at me." Kobra opened his mouth to breathe and Poison nearly held his own breath trying to listen to what his brother would say. It became clear after a moment that Kobra was just breathing. Any hope of conversation had just been wishful thinking on Poison's part.

"Fuck." Poison brought his left hand back up and pushed his red hair back out of habit. He listened to the sounds of the infirmary around him, the people milling around behind the curtain merely masses of shadow from this distance. Sitting here now, the problems outside of the curtained area seemed so far away and unreal. All that mattered was how sick his brother was and how he might never get to talk to him. "There's so much I need you for here. I don't know what to do without you. I wish you were here so you could tell me what to do about this. I've never needed guidance more than I need it right now." Poison brought his hand up to brush against his nose, sniffling once and erasing all hints of negative emotion. He refused to let himself cry. If he broke down now, it'd be catastrophic. He'd let it build up, and it could wait to be dealt with until he was in the clear with this emergency situation they were all in. He couldn't afford to be an emotional basket case while the Dracs were planning something so potentially deadly.

"I'm sorry." Poison nearly leapt from his spot on the gurney as he heard the scratchy and raw voice of his brother respond. He'd never heard his brother so strained before, and though his voice was deep and sounded pained he could very distinctly hear Kobra Kid's usual mellow voice. He crept off the bed and turned to face Kobra who was staring at him, tears streaming down his face, his red eyes looking devilish but sorrowful. "I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be… Kobra, don't be… Stop apologizing. You have nothing to be sorry for." Poison shook his head. "I'm just worried about you, that's all."

"I'm sorry…" Kobra repeated and Poison slumped his shoulders after a moment in realization. "I'm sorry." _He's not here at all._ "I'm sorry." _He's stuck in some delusion. His eyes are red from the fever. Fuck, he's not apologizing to me at all. _"I'm so sorry." Poison walked away from his brother who continued to apologize and brought his left hand up, clenching it in a fist as if he were going to hit the wall but then took a deep breath and turned back to face Kobra who had stopped apologizing and was staring at him blankly now.

No, he wasn't staring at him, he was staring through him as though he weren't in the room at all. It'd become clear that nothing Kobra said was going to make sense. As much as Poison was hoping for his brother to miraculously make it out of this illness on his own, it wasn't going to happen. These were the danger days- there were no miracles left.

Poison sat back down on the edge of the bed and stared down at his mud covered boots, wondering what could be said. He knew that any conversation he'd have would really be him just talking to himself and not to his brother at all.

"You remember that arsonist you told me not to chase before I ran off into the second zone? The one I chased anyway? You knew I was going after her, didn't you?" Poison waited for a response from his brother even though he knew it'd never come. _It just feels impolite not to give him the chance._ "She's a lot of trouble, you know. She tried to kill me a couple of times. You were right but you were also wrong. If I hadn't given her that lighter, I'm pretty sure she would have ripped me limb from limb. For a tiny thing she's sure vicious." Poison couldn't help but smile a little. He had no idea why he was talking about this. He knew if Kobra Kid was awake, he'd be asking the same thing.

"She's an addict ya know… just like I used to be but worse I think. I know, you're thinking that's impossible. I mean, yeah I was bad but… I think her head's really fucked up even without the drugs. She won't tell me anything personal of course, but you know I'm a snoop and don't let that shit go. I figured some things out. She didn't like that." Poison sighed heavily and looked up at the metallic ceiling of the building. "I think I might like her." After a moment of silence, Poison scoffed. "I know what you'd say. You'd tell me that I like all girls, you'd tell me to keep it in my pants before it falls off. For once it's not like that." Poison tapped the fingers of his right hand nervously on the bed and grimaced at the pain in his arm. It certainly wasn't numb when he tried to use it, which he supposed was a good thing if he ever intended on using it for anything again.

"Do you think it'd be possible for me to want more than just sex from someone after all this time?" Poison whispered, even though he knew no one could hear. "There are plenty of women I could go after. It's not the first time I've been rejected so it can't be the reason. I never linger like this. I obsess like this all the time over other shit, but not over women… fuck, I don't know if I can be monogamous if I tried." Poison grimaced and leaned his head back. "But I haven't looked at another girl since I met her. It's not like there haven't been other girls around, I just keep going back to her." Poison got up from the gurney and walked away, toward the curtains only to walk back to the gurney again.

"I know it's stupid, falling for a drug addicted, fucked up, arsonist… you'd say it's just like me right? Of course I'd fall for the one person in the zones who is possibly more fucked up than I am." Poison stared down at his brother who stared back, looking sadder than ever. "I guess that's what I needed to hear." He brushed his fingers over the tears on Kobra's cheeks to wipe them away then leaned down to kiss his forehead, taking a deep breath after he got up. "You're right. It's time for me to man up and tell her the truth. Thanks Kobra."

Poison stood awkwardly for a moment, hesitant to leave. He couldn't linger forever in the infirmary as much as he would've liked to. He had a job to do and he had very little time to handle the personal matters he'd managed to build up in the last few days. He walked out of the infirmary, propping his arm up against his chest now that his fingers had started to throb. Maybe it was time to deal with his wound at last. _Not until after I talk to Frenzy._

* * *

><p>It was far too hot of a day to be sitting around a campfire exchanging stories in the middle of the California desert but there they were, sitting and talking. Disco Bitch had found some hotdogs that they could roast on the fire and even though the group was sweating up a storm, they were in a good humor about it. They'd finally found something to celebrate after all of the stress that they'd endured. It had seemed as though for awhile that there would be no more celebrating, merely grasping at glimpses of hope.<p>

"I think I've eaten less in the last week than ever before in my life." Black Cherrybomb complained, grabbing greedily at one of the hotdogs that Disco was passing out. He stuck it on the end of a sharpened stick and held it close to the fire to cook. This seemed primitive and almost childish in a way, but part of it was a lot of fun to be cooking this way.

"Tell me about it, I'm surprised no one's passed out from dehydration yet." Agent Alpaca laughed. Winning the fight the night before had considerably altered his mood. Things didn't seem so desperate and downtrodden now that they had managed to take back the eastern base against all the odds. He couldn't even find a negative thing to say about Disco Bitch or Party Poison in this good humor.

"The real miracle is that any of you can stand to smell each other." Rainbow Riot smirked, shaking her head. "I'm relatively clean still but good lord, you people stink like you've been rolling around in pig slop for days."

"Hey, there's not a whole lot of time to shower during a rebellion." Disco laughed, but did grimace at the smell of herself. They were all still half covered in mud and sweat from the days past. She'd have to make a mental note to shower before the end of the day. There wasn't a lot of water to go around in the Killjoy camp but they had a water treatment center so they could shower if nothing else.

"Honestly, I don't smell anything. Is it really that bad?" Cherrybomb asked curiously, chewing on the hot dog now. It was nothing special but at that moment it tasted like the sweetest thing he'd ever eaten. It was amazing how hunger could be the best ingredient in a meal.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad." Vengeful Venom added with a weak smile. His inner conflict was getting to him and he was only half paying attention to the conversation around him. He didn't want to seem rude by not participating, so he was trying to make small efforts.

"Well, let's talk about something to distract from how nasty you all are, then." Riot chuckled, using the end of her stick to draw pictures in the dirt in front of her. Her appetite had been stifled by nausea that morning and her mind was elsewhere.

"Alright." Disco finally sat down, taking her place next to Riot and Cherrybomb. "How the hell did you become friends with Fire Frenzy? I think we all want to know that." The whole group around the fire laughed in response to the question. "What? I'm serious. She's out of her mind half the time and we can't get her to talk about anything that makes any sense at least… Or at least to talk without insulting someone. So, how on earth did she become your friend? Give us a hint, maybe we can get her to open up."

"Well, we use the term friend loosely about each other. I think that she's more like my screwed up cousin than anything else." Riot cleared her throat to stifle some laughter. "She's not as crazy as she acts though. She just puts up this front so you'll leave her alone simply because she doesn't want this kind of attention. Trust me; she drops the act really quickly when she has to."

"She's done a really excellent job keeping it up if you ask me considering the circumstances." Alpaca cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't know, she seems to get all my jokes. She even makes a few of her own." Cherrybomb shrugged.

"That doesn't say much about you, now does it?" Alpaca retorted, causing Cherrybomb to pout.

"Hey, hey… come on. She's my friend. No need to be nasty." Riot shrugged her shoulders. "You really want to know how we met? It's kind of a fun story actually. Well, it's fun to talk about now, it wasn't much fun at the time."

"Yeah, go ahead. I'm curious." Disco finished eating her hotdog and set her stick aside, prepared to just relax. Now that she had some food in her, her stomach was objecting to the fact that she'd neglected it for so long.

"I'd heard through the zones that she was an excellent dealer in weapons. At the time I didn't know she built them herself. I've always preferred to fight from afar. I'm a strategist, close combat isn't my thing. The problem is, it's really tough to find a scope that's worth shit these days. So I saved up some cash and searched for Frenzy. She wasn't easy to find but it was well worth it. She's got a pretty nasty reputation and most people try to steer clear of her but I thought that was part of the fun."

"Am I the only one who hadn't heard of her before all of this?" Agent Alpaca asked, leaning forward.

"No, only people who skulk around the zones would know who she is. The eastern Killjoys use her a lot but most of us didn't know her name until now. Kobra Kid usually handled all weapons acquisitions." Disco added in. "It doesn't surprise me that you don't know her out in the western zones. She's hard to find to begin with and the rumors about her are just that. I didn't know her name either, but I knew about the arms manufacturer who used that little flame as their insignia. I'd always pictured a guy but, surprise, surprise."

"Yes, she is hard to find. But I found her and we had designated to meet up in the northern part of the fourth zone to exchange cash for the weapon. It was the most beautiful gun I'd ever seen. I still carry it with me actually. I've had to have it repaired several times but I've never had a more reliable weapon." Riot smiled at the memory of her favorite gun. "Anyway, we were in the middle of our exchange when a caravan spotted us. The Dracs happened to be passing through there. It was a freak accident actually. Apparently Frenzy had gotten some wrong intelligence on the subject and we got fucked. Things got hairy really quickly after that. Frenzy could've left me to die there in the desert. I had a reputation and a bounty on my head and she didn't. Plus, sometimes she gets away and sneaks into places in a way that she's got to be fucking magic or something… but she didn't run when she had the chance. She stood with me in battle and we won. I would've died if she hadn't stayed behind with me."

"Did you ask her why she stayed to help?"

"I didn't." Riot cocked an eyebrow. "But I had already paid her, so I knew she wasn't sticking around for the money. It was a scary day actually. I know I can smile and joke about it now but it stuck with me for a long time how close to death I had been. They had the upper hand, incredibly so. We only escaped by the skin of our teeth and well… that's not something you forget very easily." Riot turned to the side as she saw Venom getting up from his seat. The group watched as he walked off without another word, unsure of where he was taking off to or why. Riot sighed heavily but continued on with her story without acknowledging Venom's sudden disappearance.

"I think that experience really stuck with Fire Frenzy too. She didn't deliver weapons in person after that. And I mean, why do you think she's sticking around now? Fighting side by side with someone, even if you don't know them, it does something to you. It builds a bond that doesn't easily break. It was almost like an unspoken trust was born between us that day. After we fought we went out for a drink and we talked. She liked my art and I liked hers. We kept in touch here and there. Hell, sometimes we even had fun together. Once you get a few drinks in her, she's actually pretty funny." Riot turned to see if maybe Venom was coming back but she could see that he'd needed to remove himself from the conversation. She thought he'd finally be happy now that he was a part of the Killjoys. Apparently she had thought wrong. The darkness brewing beneath his skin hadn't subsided.

"Well, that's one way to become friends with an arsonist, I suppose." Disco said finally after a moment. They'd all become distracted by Venom's abrupt exit but Disco didn't want to be rude and jump right to what was weighing on all their minds. She wasn't so sure about the idea of a Drac being a member of the Killjoys but he'd been loyal to them so far. There wasn't enough time to be untrusting to those willing to help them these days, particularly when Party Poison was so willing to believe his story.

"Please excuse Vengeful Venom." Riot began after scribbling out the picture she had been drawing in the dirt. "He really hates when I tell that story. He doesn't like when I talk about all the danger I used to get myself into. I think he blames himself sometimes for not being around to protect me"

"Why? Are you two…?" Disco's romantic implications made Riot smile a bit, but they could also easily read the sorrow on her face.

"I'd like to say that we are. And in a weird way… I guess we really are together but… He struggles with it sometimes and not for the reasons you may think." Riot shrugged her shoulders sadly. "We've been on and off for years. I've told him I love him several times but he can't let go of the fact that he was a Drac. It's like he can't forgive himself for ever falling for their lies. Every time we get close, he tells me he's not good enough and we slip apart. It's all stupid and complicated. I don't know how to change his mind." Riot dropped her stick on the ground but smiled a bit to try and lighten the air around her. "But enough about that for now. You're all a motley group of Killjoys, how the hell did you end up working together?" Riot had already heard the majority of the story from Fire Frenzy, but at this point she'd do anything to draw the focus away from the complicated relationship she had with Vengeful Venom. _Sometimes, I wish I could just smack some sense into him. Then again, love isn't supposed to be easy._

* * *

><p>Phoenix Fury sat alone in the corner of one of the cells of the makeshift Killjoy jail that had been set up in the far back of the camp. Party Poison had seen fit to throw him in there while the rest of the rebels were being interrogated. He assumed that was his punishment for shooting him in the arm and saying the nasty things he'd said. He'd been known to be a bit of a hot head but he believed in what he did. Now, though, alone in the middle of the cell, hearing the things he'd heard and seeing the strange things he'd seen in the last few days, he was unsure of what to think. Maybe Party Poison hadn't been lying about the situation to begin with. Maybe someone had been lying to him all along about the state of the Killjoys.<p>

If that were true, then he would owe them all an apology. He wasn't very good at apologizing.

"There's no way. There are too many coincidences. I'm not naïve enough to believe something like that so easily. There was evidence." Phoenix spat out. It had grown tiresome being alone in this room with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company, particularly when his thoughts were so mutinous and confused.

"Yes you are. Naïve that is." A voice from the doorway echoed through the room. Phoenix clamped his mouth shut and looked through the bars toward the door. For a moment he couldn't see who was talking to him and merely stared at the shadow in the archway. He looked down at the ground as he saw the woman who'd nearly branded him with the burning hot end of a flamethrower standing in the doorway.

"Go away. I don't have to listen to you mock me. I'm already locked up like a dog, isn't that enough?"

"I want to know why you thought Poison was a traitor to begin with." Frenzy walked into the room and leaned against the bars. She had her lighter in her hand and she flicked it habitually. Her nerves were worn thin and stretched. The flame was all that was keeping her together at this point. Her body required food and sleep but her curiosity had the best of her at this point and she had sought him out to answer her questions.

"It's none of your fucking business."

"I think it is. I'm not a Killjoy, mister mohawk. I'm just trying to figure out the truth here. You started a rebellion that could destroy all the Killjoys have worked for, I'm assuming you didn't do it without proof."

"Why the hell should I trust you when you're sitting here insulting me?"

"I didn't ask you to trust me and I'm not insulting you. I asked you to tell me why you think Poison is a traitor. Also, I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know about yourself." Frenzy didn't bother looking back at him but instead stared at the repetitive spark and flame coming from her lighter. She could already tell what he was thinking. He thought she was attached to Poison in some way. He thought she was looking for an excuse to finish him off like she had wanted to during the night. Phoenix Fury hesitated to respond.

"I had evidence he was a traitor. I had pictures of him with Dracs… I had reports from numerous Killjoys telling me of the way he'd abused them. I had people… coming to report an attack from the Dracs or… that they saw Poison peddling off kids like they were currency." Phoenix furrowed his brow. "I had proof. I was convinced. I didn't need any more by the time that the reports continued to pile in."

"Did you ever consider talking to him about it before you took over?" Frenzy asked.

"Look, he could have you fooled too. You obviously…"

"I don't." Frenzy interrupted before any sort of accusation of an emotional attachment could be made. _I'm not okay with talking about that right now. It's time to ignore that nagging voice in my head and get back to business_. "I don't want to be a part of this stupid civil war. I don't honestly even want to be here right now in this camp. I just want to do what's right and I can tell you that the moment I met Party Poison I knew he was a scumbag. You don't have to convince me of that." Phoenix Fury looked surprised by her.

"Then why did you protect him if you know he's such a dick?"

"Because he really does care about the Killjoys. Wherever you got your information from, it's wrong. He may be a drug dealer, a manipulative, womanizing, chauvinist, egotistical, megalomaniacal asshole but… the whole dedication to the Killjoys and what you guys do is not an act." Phoenix Fury didn't respond to her so she continued. "I just wanted to know what your evidence was. To tell you the truth I think you did the right thing given the circumstances."

"What?"

"You stood up against a powerful organization that you were convinced was corrupt and… yeah you did it for the wrong reasons and you did it under false pretenses but… at least you didn't just stand there and let corruption happen. Too many people stand idly by in such situations."

"You think I did the right thing, but you still tried to burn my face off."

"I didn't say it wasn't a stupid thing to do." Frenzy shrugged then started to turn away from him, having gotten all that she needed.

"Wait." Phoenix Fury didn't want her to leave yet. She had put so many confusing thoughts into his mind, he needed to know more even though he could tell she was a reluctant conversationalist.

"What?"

"Why do you know that he isn't a traitor?"

"The same reason you shot him in the arm and not in the chest." Frenzy didn't bother turning back around. She headed to the door and sighed heavily in annoyance as Phoenix Fury called to her again.

"Hold on, don't go yet. Just one more thing, I promise."

"What is it now?"

"I'm sorry I shot him the way I did." Frenzy turned to look at him as Phoenix spoke. "You were right. I panicked. I have rage issues and I was mad. I shot him when I should've been trying to get him aside to let him prove to me he was honest. I'm sorry for that."

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me."

"Oh, I think I'm apologizing to the right person. Even Poison didn't threaten to stab a red hot gun barrel through my neck." Phoenix offered her a charming dimpled smile and then looked back down. Frenzy watched him curiously for a moment then turned away, leaving the jail and Phoenix Fury to his thoughts.

* * *

><p>Agent Alpaca had stopped listening in on the chatter that was going on around the campfire awhile ago. Detonation Punx and Neon Acid had joined them after a little while and they were exchanging stories about their first Killjoy missions. Though he was mildly entertained by learning about these new people, he couldn't get the idea of what could've bothered the Drac so much that he'd leave the group in the middle of a story so rudely. He'd been fascinated with Vengeful Venom to begin with. Alpaca had never heard of a Drac being reformed before. He had only ever seen Killjoys turn into them, not the other way around.<p>

He decided after a few moments that he'd make an excuse to leave and go after Venom to try and figure out why he'd left in the middle of Riot's story. It hadn't seemed like an exceptionally upsetting one so curiosity was starting to get the better of him. His imagination had come up with at least fifty different reasons he'd be upset. No one seemed to think anything of him leaving and the chatter faded into mumbling as he walked in the direction he'd seen Venom walk only a few moments prior. He was sure the man would stand out in the middle of the colorful Killjoys, all dresses in a black tuxedo from head to toe. Alpaca walked the perimeter of the camp and started to second guess himself. The only other place he could think to check was outside in the zones.

Through the front gate he began but stopped immediately at the smell of cigarette smoke. He turned and saw Vengeful Venom leaning against the newly repaired gate mechanism, a cigarette between his lips, blowing a puff of smoke out of the opposite corner of his mouth. He looked up to acknowledge Agent Alpaca but didn't offer him a cigarette or attempt to make conversation. Venom was giving off pretty strong "fuck off" vibes but Alpaca ignored them. After standing next to the Drac for a few moments, Alpaca turned his head to look at him, speaking in the most casual tone he could muster.

"So, why did you walk out like that so abruptly?" Venom's chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath and contemplated his words wisely.

"I have a lot on my mind. Too many voices coming at me at once… sometimes it fucks with my head and I have to get a breath of fresh air."

"Yeah, I'm addicted to those nicotine sticks too." Alpaca nodded to the cigarette in his hand. He assumed that he meant he needed a smoke to cool his nerves, and not the fresh air since there was so little of that left in the zones anyway.

"Yeah." Venom didn't attempt further conversation and Alpaca continued to ignore the strong "fuck off" vibes he received. He wasn't going to leave this Drac alone until he figured out what was really going on under his skin. No one walked out of a conversation like that to get fresh air, at least not without saying they were doing so. Rainbow Riot had even seemed upset by his leaving so he knew that there had to be more to it than either one of them had been willing to publicly admit.

"How did you come to… you know, tell BL/ind to fuck off? I know you've told the story to some people but I'm curious and I wasn't around when that happened. I'm not the kind of person to just take a story at face value. I like to hear it right from the horse's mouth." Alpaca tapped his fingers nervously against his leg then sighed with relief as Venom offered him a cigarette. Alpaca took it gratefully and let Venom light the end of it before taking a deep inhale, the rush of nicotine and tobacco instantly taking an effect.

"That's really why you came out here?"

"No, but I'm curious about that too and it's a good place to start."

"Okay." Venom hid a smile and cleared his throat. _At least he's honest._ "Becoming a Drac isn't what everyone thinks it is. When you grow up in Battery City like I did, you want to be them… You don't… think anything is wrong around you. We took pills since we were old enough to swallow and the Dracs were our heroes. I joined as soon as I was old enough and I was assuming I'd be able to make a proper life to support a future family. The Killjoys? We always thought they were terrorists, trying to stop Better Living from keeping the people safe. I wanted to be successful and I wanted to make my family proud."

"Yeah, I've heard it can be like that growing up in the city. It's hard to break out of someone's brainwashing when it's all you've ever known."

"That's how it was exactly. But becoming a Drac meant I got to see the things they don't tell you in the city when you're going to school. It means… we saw what was really happening. Most Dracs had such a vendetta against the Killjoys to begin with that it didn't matter to them but… Not me. I just wanted to be a hero. I wanted to do some good for the world. I saw what the drugs were really doing to people. I saw anarchists being dragged into laboratories and coming out completely different people. It's not right. No one should be able to change every single thing about another human being against their will. I may not have agreed with what the Killjoys were doing at the time but I felt it was their right to believe what they wanted to believe. No one should be able to fuck with what goes on in your brain. Eventually I realized that maybe the drugs were fucking with everyone's brains and not just their enemies."

"You were a smart kid then. To be on the drugs yourself and to see what they really did."

"That part comes in later. There's a reason I saw it and no one else did." Alpaca looked at Venom curiously. He would've rather jumped to that tidbit right now, but sat patiently through the story.

"I've mentioned this to several people now but I rallied against Better Living. I pleaded with my fellow Dracs to see what was going on around them and to make it stop. I know that if everyone just stood up against BL/ind we could break free and live our own lives. The only thing stopping us was fear of change, fear of responsibility." Venom took a drag of his cigarette and thought about it. "It didn't work obviously. I was detained and charged with treason. I thought I would just be thrown in jail and kicked out of the Dracs but they started doing tests on me instead."

"Fucking Dracs."

"The tests went on for weeks, months I… I can't remember a lot of it. I just remember the fear and the pain. I'd never been so afraid of dying before. I'd never been so afraid of living either. Each new day was a new torture… I try to block it out but sometimes I still wake up in the middle of the night and hear the drills… and feel the pain." Venom's voice faded for a moment. He'd told this story before, but he'd left some things out. Why did he feel compelled to share them now? _Maybe because I know what's to come._

"How'd you escape?"

"If I tell you this part you have to swear to keep it quiet."

"I swear."

"Just like that, huh?"

"You're taking a chance talking to me so I figure I can take a chance trusting you." Alpaca shrugged. Venom nodded to agree with his logic.

"During the tests, I overheard the results sometimes when I listened hard enough. I was immune to their drugs. It's why I'd never fallen for any of the bullshit they fed me as a Drac. It's why I saw the truth when others stayed loyal… but… I'm also immune to the gas in the outer zones. I've walked out there countless times without a mask and it tastes funny but… I'm clearly still alive and well." Venom swallowed hard, afraid to become another experiment.

"Shit…" Alpaca mumbled with the cigarette in his mouth, not turning his gaze away from Venom now. The implications of what Venom was telling him were astounding.

"I was excited when I first heard that. They could use my blood and find a cure. We could all be free. Hell, we could leave this place and find out if there are any other survivors in the world. I knew that's what Better Living had told us when we signed up was their goal but… the doctors… instead of discussing a cure, began talking about a new drug they could make… They could find out what made me immune to the gas and their drugs and get around it. They could take the only chance they had for a cure and turn it into a weapon to control the population further. They'd even gone as far as to contemplate creating a virus from my blood to instill fear amongst the masses."

"What? I didn't think even BL/ind would stoop that low. Those rotten fucks…"

"Me neither. I knew I had to get free. I knew I had to destroy what they had of me and I had to get out of there and keep it all from happening." Venom put out his cigarette beneath his shoe and continued on, watching the wind move the sand in front of him. "After a test, I knocked out my doctor. I hacked the computers and erased my files. I destroyed my blood samples. I ran from lab to lab trying to find a way out and… I found something horrible along the way. I found this experiment, this… these weapons they were building. They were only in the testing stages then. I could've stayed and I could've killed them… I could've stopped them and destroyed the data they had built up over the years but I was too scared. They could get me if I lingered so I ran. I ran like a coward and now we're all paying for it." Venom and Alpaca stood in silence for a moment. The gravity of the situation weighed heavily on them both. Venom hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since Party Poison had mentioned the Dracs were testing something called the IOD project. It hadn't been called that back when he'd found them, but he knew it had to be the same thing.

"There's no way you could've known what it'd become…" Alpaca didn't know what Venom was referring too, but he knew it had to be bad for him to be this afraid his actions had caused something so horrible.

"I knew and I did nothing about it. It's not the last stupid mistake I've made either. Shortly after I met Riot she… got into that trouble with Fire Frenzy. I didn't go with her that day because I was scared that I would be caught and tested on again. I know she made a joke out of it but she almost died that afternoon because of my cowardice. I could've been there to protect her but I stayed hidden instead. I could've stopped Better Living Industries and pushed them back twenty years, but I didn't. I chose to hide like a coward then too. I can't live my life until I make up for these things." Venom messed up his loose black hair, doing so only out of nerves and lack of things to do with his hands. "I… I can't be worthy of being with Rainbow Riot until I make up for the sins I've committed." Venom stayed silent, afraid he'd told Alpaca too much and perhaps the man now found him out of his mind. Alpaca didn't respond until he realized his cigarette had reached the filter and the flame burnt his fingers and singed his flesh.

"Fucking shit…" Alpaca threw the butt on the ground and stepped on it until the small flame was extinguished. He shook his fingers out and turned to face Vengeful Venom. "Look, you can still make up for all of that. You can redeem yourself by helping us find a cure."

"I won't be another fucking experiment. Not again. Not even for the Killjoys."

"It doesn't have to be like that though. I'm not going to strap you down to a chair and cut into you. We could just take some blood samples. You could work with us so you can see what's going to happen to your blood. We could find a cure together. We could stop BL/ind and free everyone… We could all fucking leave the zones if we wanted! We could see if the rest of the world is as fucked as it is here!"

"No one's ever believed me before when I told them I was immune. Everyone thought I was exaggerating or didn't want to tell why I really bailed on the Dracs. You're the first person to take what I've said to heart."

"The truth is always stranger than fiction in my opinion. Your story is far too fantastic to be false." Alpaca put a reassuring hand on Venom's shoulder. "I can talk to Tiger Beatdown about it if you like. He's the leader of the western Killjoys so he has some say in these things. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help with this. We'll do it together after all of this madness here amongst us is figured out. I don't want you to get caught in the crossfire and become leverage. I won't tell anyone until this civil war is over with, okay?"

"Thank you…" Venom said sincerely, clasping both hands on Alpaca's shoulders. "Thank you so much… I'll help. I want to help. It's all I've ever wanted from life… but I'm just not sure it's going to be enough to make up for the things I didn't do that I should've done."

"At least it's a start."

* * *

><p>Party Poison left the infirmary, his eyes burning from the emotion he'd held back in regards to his brother but a smile on his face. He knew what he had to do and he wanted to do it before he lost the nerve. He was going to go and find Fire Frenzy and tell her what he'd been telling himself for the last twelve hours.<p>

Now it was just a matter of finding her, which would be a feat in and of itself.


	18. Too Close for Comfort

He tried in vain not to look like he was searching for someone, but found himself sneaking around corners and checking in strange places regardless. At one point, Detonation Punx asked what the hell he was doing sneaking around like he was on a scavenger hunt. He'd said he was trying to find something that belonged to him, which he figured wasn't _entirely_ a lie, though he was sure Frenzy would have killed him if he shared those thoughts. A smirk curled over his lips to think of how irritated that would make her. _Why the hell do I love to torture her so much?_ _I may never know. _Poison continued to search for the woman as the sun descended below the horizon, leaving the camp in darkness. He was caught up several times talking to people along the way and had eventually decided to start asking if anyone had seen her.

"Oh, you're looking for Fire Frenzy?" Cosmic Karma turned her attention away from the gun she was cleaning from the battle the day before. Jet-Star snatched it from her hands and muttered something about her doing it wrong. She elbowed him playfully and he broke out into a smile and handed it back to her in submission. "I saw her around here earlier. She was looking for you actually. At least I think she was. She asked where you were. I directed her to your place since I really didn't have any idea where you were… So I'd check there. If not there, then I …have absolutely no idea."

"She was looking for me? Are you sure?" Poison asked curiously, trying not to sound too eager for the answer. He wondered what she could possibly have to say to him right now, but he seriously doubted that she had the same sort of confession that he had for her. _It'd be a cold day in hell before she'd admit anything so grand._

"Yeah, like I said, I'm not exactly sure if she was looking for you or just curious of where you might be at the moment. Knowing her, perhaps she was trying to _avoid _you." Cosmic Karma grinned and Poison mentally deflated as he realized that people were starting to catch on to what was going on between him and the pyromaniac. Jet-Star elbowed Karma this time and she swatted back at him and mouthed for him to cut it out.

"Yeah, I'm guessing her avoiding me was likely what she was really up to." Poison chuckled and brushed the doubt away the best he could even though bits of it still lingered in his thoughts to torture him. _If she really wants to avoid me that badly, maybe I should reconsider this._

"Well, good luck finding her." Jet-Star cleared his throat and clamped his hand over Cosmic Karma's mouth to stop her from teasing him further. "Did you get your arm taken care of yet? Did Neon Rocket do a good job?"

"What?" Poison looked down at the gauze lazily thrown over his arm that was nearly completely bled through. He was sure that Jet-Star realized he was lying through his teeth. "Uh, yeah… yeah he did a fine job."

"I could take a look at it for you if you like. It still looks pretty nasty." Jet-Star shook his hand as he realized that Karma had licked his palm to try and get free.

"Jet-Star is teaching me a few things, I could use the practice. It'd be perfect."

"No, I'm good… Thanks guys. I've got to…" Poison drifted off and pointed in the other direction, making a point to use his right arm so they would think he was okay. As he turned away he made a pained face and clenched his fist, cursing under his breath to hide his discomfort. _Gotta shake this stubborn asshole problem I'm developing._

Poison walked back toward the center of the camp. His small home built there was the last place he'd thought to look. He crept slowly between the buildings, avoiding conversation if he could manage to. People seemed to be able to tell he was busy so they just walked around him or got out of his way. A good number of the Killjoys walking around were hiding from him, to avoid being reprimanded for throwing his reputation so quickly to the dogs. He stopped as he rounded the corner that would lead to his home there in the center. It wasn't much of a building, but he'd painted the outside of it to his liking. He'd drawn Killjoys and masks and all sorts of creepy kinds of doodles. There was no mistaking whose home it was, at least to the other Killjoys. Fire Frenzy would've had no idea that he was an artist of any kind. It wasn't like he had advertised it and they hadn't had time to discuss hobbies. _No, we're too busy fucking with each other's egos for that._

Sure enough, he saw her peeking in the murky looking window of his home curiously. She looked like she was trying her best to sneak inside unseen, which meant that she was likely not looking for him at all. He could tell she was trying to remain in the shadows, despite her brightly colored outfit. He walked slowly toward her, doing his best not to make much noise. Every time she stopped, he did too. To his surprise she walked right past his door and kept searching around the perimeter of his house. He slipped his key out of his pants pocket and leaned against the archway to the door, waiting for her to notice him. She crept around for a bit longer, looking at the windows and observing her surroundings.

She finally turned to look at him and stood up straight, not offering him an explanation for her secretive behavior. He didn't plan on asking for one either.

"I live here you know." He cocked an eyebrow and gave her the smirk he hoped she thought was charming. "You can just… come in the front door. You don't have to sneak around and creep through my windows. I'd much prefer you sitting next to me than being a voyeur anyway."

"I wasn't trying to catch a glimpse of you." Frenzy rolled her eyes but walked up to him, her arms folded cautiously over her chest.

"You can deny it all you like, Frenzy. You were just hoping to get another look, I'm sure of it."

"Your ego knows no bounds."

"Well, why don't you come inside?" Poison unlocked the door and stepped inside, ignoring the dig at his personality. Frenzy stepped back for a moment and looked at the paintings all over the front side of his home. She should've known that he would paint his house in outlandish colors. He wasn't one for taking a backseat to others or trying to fit in amongst a crowd.

"I wasn't sure this was your house."

"It is."

"Yeah, I figured that one out Watson. Right after you told me."

"Just come inside, okay?" Poison laughed under his breath.

"I don't _want_ to come inside."

"I do." Poison grinned widely and went to continue on a filthier tangent. _God damnit, the dirty jokes again. Maybe I'm not as good at this as I thought I was._

"Yeah, that's my cue to leave." Frenzy flicked at her lighter in her right hand, her fingers sore and stiff from her physical efforts over the last few days. She'd really been looking for pills and since he was a dealer she suspected he might have some. She was looking for more than pills though; pills and information. Her hands were shaking and her heart rate was up. She hadn't grabbed enough drugs from her bunker to last her this long. She'd expected to be back home by now and honestly didn't know why she was sticking around. She glanced back at Poison and looked him over and realized _he_ was the reason she was staying even if she hated to admit it. His arm was dripping with blood, onto the ground and he didn't seem to notice. _That idiot, he's going to have to cut the damn thing off at this rate._

"Don't go." Poison sighed and scratched the back of his head nervously. "I'm just being an ass."

"A pervert too."

"I really expected you to be used to it by now." Poison laughed a bit.

"You're an idiot, you know that right?"

"Hey, you don't need to insult me now I just admitted I was being an ass."

"You didn't take care of your arm. You got shot and you're ignoring it. That makes you an idiot." Poison looked down at the wound on his arm and pouted.

"…so?"

"You really hate taking care of yourself don't you? How the hell you've survived this long is a mystery to me." Frenzy walked over to Poison, finally breaking the awkward standoff. She grabbed his left arm and led him into the house, the door swinging closed behind her. What Poison called his "house" was actually just a small three roomed building. He had a small bedroom, a work area and then a small bathroom with his own shower. He was the only one who had his own shower in the entire amp. He'd built it himself and offered to help others, but they seemed to not care nearly as much as he did. Not that he was one to care much about his hygiene, but to keep up with the wild red hair he had, it required a lot of maintenance. Frenzy made Poison sit down in a chair close to the table he had sitting in the center of the room.

"Look, it's not that I hate taking care of myself… I'm just distracted by everything else right now."

"Well, what's distracting you right now?" Frenzy asked, starting to dig through his closets and cabinets in search of some first aid supplies. Poison grinned and couldn't resist, watching her. "Don't… say ogling me because that will just make me add to your pain." Poison closed his mouth but got up from his chair and headed into the bathroom. Frenzy chased after him and swatted his hand away from the cabinet.

"Ouch, damnit…"

"Go sit down before I make you."

"I could be into that."

"Do you ever stop?"

"Not really."

"Just go sit down." Frenzy opened the cabinet in his bathroom and pulled out a small first aid kit. She turned around to find that Party Poison had indeed obeyed and gone to sit back in the seat. He was sitting and staring at her akin to a puppy who was hoping for some kind of treat for his good behavior. She looked down to hide her smile and got to her feet. She walked over to the table and set the metallic case down. Pulling up a chair, she started to unravel the gauze from his maimed arm. Poison and Frenzy both made a face at the smell coming from the disgusting wound.

"It didn't smell that rank a second ago." Poison looked up at her with wide eyes, his lip curled in disgust.

"Yeah, well you left a wound unattended for nearly twenty four hours now so… what did you really expect?" Frenzy didn't know where to begin. She was sure the actual wound wasn't as bad as it looked at this moment. Yellowish pus was dripping from the wound and dark red blood was caked all the way down his arm, far past the length of the wound. She grabbed his arm and lifted it. Poison winced and whined at the motion.

"Be gentle, it's my first time…"

"God, where do you keep your toys, there has to be a gag for you somewhere in here."

"Now you're talking…" Poison laughed but then winced and pouted again as she shifted his arm. Frenzy grabbed a piece of gauze and started to wipe at the back of his arm but the blood was too old to come off so easily.

"Don't move."

"Yes, ma'am." Poison sat obediently but stared down at the table. _Okay, I have to stop being an ass and try to ease into this. I can't just joke with her about it forever. I want her to know the truth before she runs off._

"Okay, you can move now." Frenzy had gotten a metallic bowl from a cabinet and filled it with water. "Sorry if it's cold."

"No you're not."

"You're right, I'm not. I was just being polite." Frenzy dipped the gauze in the water and started to wipe around the wound on his arm. Poison watched her curiously, unsure of what he should say to her or how to start confessing that he might have feelings for her. He couldn't just jump into something big with her right away. She was a lunatic and a drug addict. But she was different, more so than any other woman he'd met. He wanted her to know _that_ if nothing else. He didn't think it was bad she was the way she was; in fact, it's what had attracted him to her in the first place. He did worry about the drug addiction and suicidal tendencies but no one was perfect. Poison opened his mouth to speak but Frenzy got to it before him.

"Something's been bothering me."

"Me too." Poison felt his heart rate rise at the idea that she had some kind of confession for him as well.

"You think there's more to this too, then?" Frenzy looked up at him surprised. _He's smarter than I thought, I guess. Well, he actually is pretty smart, I just hate telling him that he is. He'd never let me live it down if I told him._

"Yes! Yes I do!" Poison laughed with relief. He thought that he'd have to fight her tooth and nail to get her to understand his feelings for her, but here she was making his life much simpler. "I think there's a _lot_ more to this than we're willing to admit."

"I do too." Frenzy set down the gauze covered with the pus and blood from his wound. The blow on his arm was nasty and needed to be stitched up. She prepped a needle and thread since it was all they had on hand. She'd heard stories about the kinds of stitches they had in Battery City hospitals but knew they wouldn't have access to such things.

"God, that's a relief… I really thought that telling you was going to be a bitch and a half."

"I'm not _that_ stubborn Poison." Frenzy started to stitch the wound up slowly, watching as his fingers turned white as he gripped the table. If he was lucky then he wouldn't have any muscle damage. She had a hard time telling, since she'd never properly studied human anatomy. The only first aid she'd known was the kind that had kept her alive over the years. "I really think that if the Dracs had wanted to infiltrate the Killjoys then you'd all be annihilated by now." Frenzy continued on, slipping the needle between her lips so she could wipe some of the excess blood and pus away from the wound as it began to drip one again. "Instead they laid low and tried to turn you against each other." Poison stared at her, his heart practically dropping into his stomach and stopping entirely.

_Of course she wasn't talking about me. I'm an idiot for thinking it'd be that easy. Now what to do I do? Shit. Fuck. Hell. _Poison realized he was staring at her and looked down at the table, trying to get his thoughts in order so he could talk to her about the Dracs. _Shit. I don't want to talk about the Dracs. I want to talk about you! Damnit. Fuck._

"What?" Poison managed to utter stupidly.

"Your men found Dracs amongst your Killjoys right? I think maybe they're just plants like the ones you have in Battery City amongst the Dracs."

"No, no… They were trying to destroy us from the inside out." Poison sounded only half into his replies and it didn't go unnoticed. Frenzy slipped the needle through his skin again, her hands shaking through the entire process. He seemed distracted enough not to notice her tremors so she didn't make her efforts too entirely great to disguise them.

"If they were trying to destroy you, they would've done so. Instead they pussy footed around the whole time. They need you."

"We're not that weak you know. They're not strong enough to destroy us like that."

"They are strong enough, Poison. They want to control you… who would they blame all the shit on in Battery City without you? The only reason Better Living holds its people in that grip of fear is because you're out here scaring the shit out of the people within."

"We're just a scapegoat you know. If it wasn't us, they'd make up someone else! You're not giving my Killjoys enough credit." Poison snapped angrily. Frenzy stopped tending to his arm and gave him a look that clearly showed her irritation.

"Didn't you just say you agreed with me?"

"I thought we were talking about something else when I said that."

"Like what?"

"It doesn't matter. Look, they were trying to get us to destroy each other so they wouldn't have to take the blame for it. They failed. It's a small, but glorious fucking victory! You can't take that from me!" Poison was far angrier than was necessary. Frenzy immediately got defensive and irritated, unsure as to why he was suddenly lashing out at her.

"It's not a victory! Now you really _are_ being an idiot Poison!" Frenzy tied off the thread of the needle and grabbed the disinfectant, rubbing it on the wound and paying no mind to how it might hurt him as she had planned on doing initially. Poison pulled away and slid back in his seat, cursing at her.

"God damnit! That fucking hurts, I told you to be gentle! Don't you listen to _anyone_?"

"I have to clean your wound, you big fucking baby!" Frenzy's nerves were at their end.

"I didn't ask you to fucking clean it and play nurse for me!"

"Fine! I won't fucking help you then!" Frenzy threw the gauze at him and stood up from her seat. "Clean it yourself, asshole. If you can't see that the Dracs were just trying to keep you busy, that something bigger is going on behind all of this then you deserve to die with the rest of your fucking people!" Frenzy turned to leave. Poison stood up and grabbed her arm to keep her from marching out the door.

"Fine! I'm sorry! God, I'm just… It's been a long fucking day."

"Yeah, well next time you snap at me when I'm _trying_ to be nice to you I'm going to break your fucking nose and spit in your eye before I march the hell out of here. I don't owe you shit, Poison!" Frenzy shoved his hand off of her arm and stared at him for a moment. He seemed upset, visibly upset. _I'm not good with this stuff. Should I ask him what's wrong? It seems like there's more going on than he's telling me. No. He'll just make some remark about me caring about him and I don't want to deal with that in this condition._

"Fair enough." Poison sat back down, sighing with relief. He nudged the gauze toward her carefully, hoping she'd continue to wrap his arm up. He really did appreciate the help more than he let on. Frenzy grabbed the gauze off of the table and did as he hoped. "What were you saying about the Dracs?"

"Something bigger is going on. If they wanted to destroy you, then you'd be dead. So I'm guessing that it's likely they just wanted you chasing your tail in circles while they did something much bigger." Frenzy made an attempt to sound less irritated, but it was still on the edges of her voice.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the shit they were testing in the city." Frenzy sighed and finished wrapping up the wound tightly, ripping the end of the gauze strip with her teeth then taping it closed securely. Poison sighed and rolled his shoulder, wiggling his fingers to make sure he had feeling in them still. Everything really did feel a lot better now that it was cleaned up. _I probably should say thank you or something. I can't believe I thought she was talking about us. Fuck._ _I can't stop thinking about it. She's probably right about Better Living and the Dracs. I know we're strong, but we have just been chasing our tails haven't we? Fuck._

"Why do you have to be right all the time?" Poison gave her a half hearted smile as she packed up his first aid kit.

"It's a blessing and a curse." Frenzy shrugged and walked to the bathroom, putting the kit back under the cabinet where she had removed it from earlier. Poison got up and walked over to the bathroom doorway, stopping about two feet away from it. Frenzy leaned against the frame of the doorway. Poison didn't say anything. He slipped one hand in his pocket and the other on his belt buckle, just staring at her for a moment. Her blue eyes looked conflicted and curious. She seemed hazy and almost sad. His gaze fell on her shaking hands for a moment before looking back up at her eyes. _Is she nervous?_

_Damn hazel eyes, damn them to hell. _Frenzy couldn't get herself oriented. She wanted to leave, wanted to walk out, but part of her couldn't stop thinking about the conversation they had been having. _What did he think I was talking about? Should I tell him I talked to Phoenix Fury? No, it'd give him another reason to ridicule me and he's already done that enough today._ She couldn't look away from those stupid eyes no matter how hard she tried. They looked so damn tired and conflicted and she wanted to just tilt him over and pour out all his thoughts and sort through them for hours, as mad as it sounded.

"Frenzy…"

"Look, I should go." She panicked inwardly, but managed to sound as casual as she could. Poison stood there and watched for a moment. Frenzy started away from him after a minute or two of silence. Poison turned with her and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him and not letting go of her wrist. _This tension is going to fucking kill me, I can't take it anymore_. Poison grasped at reasons in his head to stop her from leaving. He needed more time to try and figure out how to talk to her. It seemed so simple when he'd been telling Kobra Kid but now when he was really faced with the woman he wanted to confess too, nothing made sense anymore. His heart was pounding away in his ears. "What, Poison? Let go of me… this is getting old."

"Thank you." Poison sputtered out, far louder than he needed to and almost so quickly that she didn't understand what he said. "Thank you for… taking care of my arm. I shouldn't have let it go, you're right. I was being a baby about it." Frenzy cocked an eyebrow suspiciously at him.

"You're welcome, I suppose." She pulled her arm away and made a move like she was going to turn toward the door one again.

"And… And…" Poison grabbed her wrist and pulled her close again, resting his hand on her shoulder. "And thank you for coming to my side to help me during the battle last night. I know you were told to stay out of it but if you hadn't I probably would've been gunned down."

"You probably would have. I had to come. I knew you'd get yourself into some kind of trouble. I tried to talk Riot out of having you be one of the distractions… but she knew you'd do it well."

"Well, I like getting into trouble much better when it's with you anyway." Poison shrugged then winced from the discomfort. He watched her lick her lips nervously, which she seemed to be doing increasingly more frequently. "Frenzy I…"

"Spit it out, Poison." Frenzy brushed his hand off of her shoulder then stumbled in place as he suddenly pushed his lips against hers. She kept her eyes wide open and didn't react for a moment. Poison urged his hands back onto her shoulders and forced her to stay where she was. His heart was pounding in his ears so if she had vocally objected in any way he hadn't heard it. She wasn't kissing him back; maybe it had been the wrong thing to do.

"Frenzy…" He kept his eyes closed and let his forehead touch against hers. He urged his hand beneath her chin and tilted her face a bit, turning his head to the side, to get at her lips at a different angle. _Maybe she'll finally just let me show her? Maybe it'd be easier than fumbling stupidly over my words._ His fingers slipped over her shoulders and down her arms, then back up again and underneath the top of the short jacket she wore. He slipped away from her lips and instead let his kisses travel down her neck. She wasn't responding to him, just standing there. As he tugged on the jacket to try and get it off of her, he was shocked to find her helping him pull it off once again as she had done in the second zone the day prior.

The vinyl of her jacket hit the floor with an awkward smack and Poison nearly tripped on it as he started urging her to walk backwards towards his room. He nipped playfully at her neck as he nearly fell, his arms falling around her body, urging her against him entirely. Her hands moved flat onto his chest. She didn't know how to react. _This damn kiss, it's just like when he thought we were dying. Why does he keep doing this? Why do I keep letting him? Don't just stand there, stupid. Either stop him, or be a slut, pick one._ Her mind wasn't giving her too many options and she wasn't sure what to choose. _Everything hurts, maybe this will help. Maybe this could distract from the pain._ Her hands gripped at the cloth of his loose shirt. He could feel her fingers trembling against his body as she gripped at him. He guided her backwards still and slowly pushed open the door to his bedroom, wincing as he did.

"Don't use that arm if it hurts, stupid…" Frenzy smacked at his shoulder and he pulled his lips from her neck, wincing.

"Don't hit it!" Poison pouted and pushed her playfully as if to reprimand her. She smacked at his shoulder again and leaned to capture his lips with her own. He couldn't help but smile as she finally returned some of the effort he'd been giving her. A low groan vibrated from his throat and against her lips, giving her the chills. Her skin was covered with goose bumps from head to toe from a combination of things, but mostly from his touches. Poison grabbed her hand and urged it down his chest and lower against his shirt. It was like she was getting cold feet with their actions suddenly. She had no problem stripping him in the alleyway the day before, why was she hesitating now?

"I should go." Frenzy whispered against his lips but made no effort to _actually_ pull away, opting instead to urge her hands lower and closer to his pants. Her palms brushed against his belt buckle then slipped underneath his shirt. Her fingers brushed over his abdomen which he inhaled deeply to make himself seem thinner, suddenly self conscious about his appearance.

"Mmm… I'd much prefer if you'd stay…" Poison whispered against her lips, his voice lower and gruffer than the situation called for. Frenzy was sweating, out of nerves, Poison was sure. He let his fingers brush over her bare arms, finding scars he'd never noticed before.

"I shouldn't." Frenzy swallowed the nerves in her throat and pulled her hands away from him. Being there around him was intoxicating in itself, if she didn't remove herself from the situation soon she was going to do something stupid. Poison turned away from her and urged his shirt over his head, getting caught on his dog tags for a second before tossing it onto the floor.

"Yeah? Give me a good reason why you shouldn't. What are you going to do otherwise? Creep around the camp until you do something else stupid?"

"I'm already doing something stupid, so what's the difference?" Frenzy watched him cautiously, picking up her lighter to flick at it again and again, to calm her nerves. Her reflexes weren't as on target as the withdrawal symptoms began to set in. It took her a few times to strike the lighter properly each time before it would produce fire. Poison watched her and snatched the lighter from her hands. Her eyes widened and she went to object but Poison held it in front of her eyes and struck the flame.

"Yeah, well sometimes we need to do stupid things to unwind. Come here." He gave her arm a swift tug and winced again at the pain shooting up to his shoulder. _It's going to take awhile getting used to not using that arm._ Frenzy stared at the flame, seemingly not noticing the stupid thing he did, bewitched.

_What's he doing? What's he doing with my lighter? Why am I letting him do this? He already stole it once, he wants to steal it again? I should take it back and burn his lips right off his face, watch them melt and burn together so he can't fucking talk either and that silver tongue of his can finally be silenced. _Frenzy's right eye twitched as she stared at the fire then realized he was pulling her fish net gloves off of her hands.

"What are you doing?"

"Just trust me."

"Fat chance." Frenzy snapped at him and moved to pull her hand back, finding her palm throbbing in pain from the wound she'd gotten the other day and the subsequent tetanus shot. Without the drugs in her system in the proper dosage things hurt ten times worse than they should have. Poison gripped her hand tighter and brought her fingers over the flame of the lighter. The small orange luminescence licked at her skin, brushing against the tips of her callused and sore fingers without leaving any marks. All the murderous thoughts Frenzy had in regards to Poison's sudden ownership over her lighter disappeared. She shifted her feet and remained in place, watching the flames lick her fingers with excitement. The flame began to sting and burn at her skin, but not enough for it to bother her; in fact she found it exhilarating. She found it _sexy_.

Poison urged her hand against his chest, feeling the heat of her fingers stimulate his nerves. _Why the hell did he do that? Fuck, I should kill him and get it over with. _Instead she stared at his lips, finally looking away from the flame. They looked wet and inviting and she licked her own out of nerves once again, feeling the cracked and pained skin irritated by the wetness of her tongue.

Poison moved to let the flame lick other parts of her but nearly stumbled backwards as she obviously gave into something in her mind and threw her arms around his shoulders. He nearly lost his balance from the sudden pain in his arm, but he grabbed onto her waist nonetheless, dropping the lighter in favor of holding onto her. Frenzy flinched at the sound of the lighter on the floor and stopped herself from her original intentions of kissing him, her face only an inch or so from Poison's.

"Hello there…" Poison smirked a little and let the tip of his nose brush against her cheek before bridging the gap between them and kissing her, letting his mouth linger open into the kiss, hoping to encourage her as well. Frenzy slipped her fingers into his hair and tugged on it to let him know she was annoyed with his cocky attitude but only managed to illicit a moan from Poison.

"Is there anything that doesn't turn you on?" Frenzy mumbled in irritation between kisses. Poison's hands fumbled on the side of her corset, looking for the seam that hid the zipper he'd seen her use before in the subway platform. He found it and in one swift movement, mostly to avoid her trying to stop him, he tugged it down completely.

"…let me think on that." Poison smirked and urged his lips to hers again, taking a chance with his tongue over her bottom lip and then pushing it past her lips into her mouth. To his surprise she reciprocated in every aspect, even delivering a playful nip to his tongue. He could feel the rising and falling of her chest faster with each moment. He threw the corset onto the floor which made a louder noise than he anticipated, but did his best to ignore it.

Her fingers were lost in his red hair, her skin starting to turn pink from the dye he used practically every other week to keep it that bright of a color. She had to stand on her tip toes to keep kissing him like this and the closer she leaned against him, the harder it was for her to keep her own balance. Poison found himself trying to juggle keeping her balanced and undressing her. He knew he could wait to get her clothes off, but it seemed like if he didn't rush it then she'd probably stop him and run away.

"Ouch…" He hissed against her lips as he she tugged his hair a little too hard with her trembling fingers. _Why is she shaking so badly?_ Nothing really made sense when his hormones were doing the talking. He leaned forward and pushed his lips harder against hers, feeling his nose getting squished as he kissed down her chin, then back up to pull on her bottom lip with his teeth, enough to allow it to snap back. Frenzy grunted in disapproval at his vengeful action but Poison merely smirked and urged his hands to the zipper on her shirt, tugging it down. It dragged the cloth down and got stuck beneath her bust and Poison actually pulled away from her lips to inspect it.

Frenzy leaned to kiss over his neck, trying to avoid particularly filthy parts of his skin, leaving him playful nips, but biting a little too hard to try and annoy him as much as she could. Poison squirmed and wiggled as he tried to get the zipper down and actually leaned away from her to laugh quietly.

"That tickles." He scolded her but put his hands on her hips and urged her close, but in the same moment she reached to zip up her top. Poison widened his eyes disapprovingly, swatted her hands away from the zipper and tugged it back down. Frenzy stood up on her tip toes again to kiss him but also tried to zip her shirt back up. Poison grabbed her hands and pulled them away from her shirt, causing them both to lose their balance and fall back on the mattress lying without a frame on the floor in Poison's room. They both stopped to stare at each other after collecting themselves. Poison took a moment to prop himself on his left arm and to wiggle his boots off of his feet. Frenzy opened and closed her eyes several times to shake off the sudden wave of dizziness having overcome her from the fall.

Poison noticed she was distracted, but thought it was no more than usual and grabbed the zipper, slipping it to its end and pulling the shirt open, urging it off of her arms quickly before she could find second thoughts about it. She vocally objected and grabbed his arm after he had it off of her. She pushed on his left arm, making him lose his balance and fall face first against her chest. He grumbled but didn't mind too much and instead bit at the skin that met him. Frenzy grabbed his shoulders and pushed him onto his back, much to his surprise.

"I'm not one to let a woman on top but…" Poison drifted off as he saw the manic look in her eyes. His heart nearly stopped and he almost choked on his words. _Something's wrong with her. How didn't I see it?_ "Whoa..." His mind slipped away from the thought and he sucked in his stomach again when he felt her hands on his belt buckle. Poison grabbed her hair and urged her down to roughly kiss him. She obliged and gripped at his belt, gasping audibly against his lips but returning his passion. Poison flipped her onto her back, almost knocking them both onto the floor, searching around her skirt for her zipper, which he'd noticed at an earlier time, was on her backside. He slipped it down and got on his hands and knees so he was high enough to pull her skirt down. He stopped after it was off and saw one of her stockings had slipped down, enough to reveal the burns on her leg. They were exactly where he had suspected they be.

He stopped and stared until he felt her shaking hands in his hair again. He grabbed at her hands, a moment of clarity finally overcoming him. _Shaking hands, uncontrollable sweating, fever, manic behavior, confusion, dizziness… she's going through withdrawal. She's giving into me because she's going through withdrawal. _Frenzy urged her lips on his again and Poison, though desperately wanting to give into what his body wanted from him, continued his contemplation though he returned her sentiments. _This is what I've been fighting for this whole time, she's finally giving it up for me. _He let his hand brush over her leg, to right her stocking, gripping her hip.

_This isn't what I want. Well, it is, but not the way I want it._

"Okay… Whoa, okay…" Poison felt her hands on his lower back urging his hips against hers. He opened his eyes to look down at her and placed either hand next to her on the bed. He swallowed hard, trying to find the words to tell her he didn't want to do this the way they were doing it, despite the obvious objections of his physical being proving him wrong at that moment. Frenzy took a deep breath, watching him for a moment and he could see she was immediately becoming embarrassed and flustered. _She knows. I don't have to say it._

She made to push him off and despite the pain in his shoulder and now his lower half, he shoved her back down on the mattress.

"I don't want to fuck this up." He said quietly, his voice catching in his throat. "Something's wrong with you. You wouldn't be giving into me like this if something wasn't wrong with you."

"Why does something have to be _wrong_ with me?" Frenzy spoke after a moment. _Because something is wrong with you, you sick fuck._ All of the sexual tension they'd built up was deflating and the walls she'd let down were slowly building back up, damaged but still strong.

"I don't know." Poison hung his head, his red hair barely touching her face enough to tickle her skin. Frenzy turned her head away from him, to look anywhere but at the man she'd let undress her. "Stay with me?"

"Why? You should get the hell off of me so I can fucking get dressed, asshole." Frenzy shoved at his arms again and he buckled under the pain from his laser wound. She stopped and sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I deserved it." Poison exhaled deeply and peeked down at her with one eye open. "Would you just… sleep next to me maybe? We're both tired… so much has happened and… Maybe we'll both have a clear head tomorrow?" Poison felt nervous, and strange about turning down sex. _I don't want this to be another one night stand. I don't want to be just getting off. I need to grow the fuck up for this._ "Please?"

"Fine… just get off of me." Frenzy leaned her head back and wiped her lips off, much like a child who'd received a kiss from a relative and hadn't wanted it.

"Yeah uh… about that…" Poison squirmed a little and very carefully lifted his hips away from hers and crawled off of the bed, limping as he walked backwards. "I'll be back in a few minutes… Yeah…" Frenzy leaned up on her elbows to watch him walk away awkwardly toward the bathroom. She laid back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Her insides were reeling with pain and frustration. _I need drugs and soon. This is out of control_. She closed her eyes and after a few moments, started to get herself slowly up to try and pull her clothing back on.

While she was fumbling with her shoelaces, which seemed incredibly uncooperative thanks to her shaking hands, Poison returned from his escapade in the bathroom.

"Whoa, hey… what are you doing?" He'd left his pants unbuttoned and was slowly slipping them down his legs. He plopped down next to her on the bed and kicked them onto the floor.

"Getting dressed, what does it look like?"

"Don't do that… where's the fun in that?" Poison laid down on the bed and kicked the covers down, tugging the ones that were stuck underneath her as well. "Lay down… Come on, I'm tired."

"This isn't weird for you, at all?"

"It's _incredibly_ weird for me, were you not just here for the last ten minutes?" Poison laughed awkwardly. "Look, I'm tired… you're tired. We've been wearing those shitty clothes for… days now and if that corset is as uncomfortable as it looks, then take a break for a few hours from it! We're just going to be sleeping. Trust me, I'm not going to rape you in your sleep."

"I'm not going to just _trust you_ with anything."

"It's okay, trust me." Poison grinned, which looked akin to a ten year old's smile when he'd done something ridiculous.

"Just go to bed before I regret this." Frenzy slipped her shoes back off of her feet and laid down on the bed, as far from him as she could possibly manage.

"Oh come on, I don't have cooties. I was just on top of you, you could stand to be within a foot of me."

"That moment's done with, remember?" Frenzy urged her hands close to her chest, feeling them shaking. The bed was comfortable, more so than she wanted to admit.

"You're so goddamn stubborn…" Poison muttered as he scooted over to be closer to her. He pulled the covers up over them both and laid closed enough so that if she needed his comfort in the night, she could seek it. They laid in silence for a long time. Frenzy was tired, perhaps too tired for sleep. Poison was on the brink of falling asleep, but an aching question burned in his mind. "Hey, Frenzy…"

"What?"

"What's your name?" He let his forehead rest against her back, keeping his eyes closed.

"I already told you."

"Your real name… You're not a Killjoy, I want to know your real name." Poison said resolutely, but still in a quiet and tired voice.

"Just shut up."

"I'm going to find out, you know. I think you secretly like me…"

"Go to bed Poison."

"Goodnight…" Poison was drifting off anyway, exhaustion hitting him like a ton of bricks. The last few days had been incredibly stressful and for once it just felt nice to sleep in his bed and to not be alone.

Frenzy laid awake, staring in the darkness of his bedroom, thinking. Her eyes grew bloodshot the longer she stayed awake, and her thoughts started to rebel. It was going to be a very long night.

* * *

><p>She'd been avoiding him all day and Tiger had absolutely no idea why. It was driving him mad and he had to figure it out the reasons behind it. He'd done enough sitting aside when it came to the last few days of their budding and apparently withering relationship and now he was going to grab the bull by the horns and take control. It'd started with her choosing to go with Agent Alpaca on the mission the day before and now it'd turned into her dodging him around corners in the camp. He had the feeling that she had cold feet all of a sudden and was trying to remove herself from the situation so she wouldn't have to deal with the worries that came with being in a relationship.<p>

He wasn't going to back down that easily. If Agent Alpaca didn't hate her so damn much, he'd be proud of him for sticking to his guns with this girl and taking an aggressive standpoint on something for once.

He found her talking to Neon Acid near the far end of the camp. They were leaning against the side of a building and discussing the battle the day before in an animated sort of way. Tiger saw that Disco realized he was there and her face reflected exactly how she felt about seeing him right now with no obvious route of escape. She was scared. He could tell. Just by the look on her face. Something had happened since they'd been together that night outside of Fire Frenzy's bunker and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

"Hey ladies." Tiger smiled casually, trying not to appear nervous, but unintentionally fumbling his footing, having to correct himself to keep from looking like an ass. Neon Acid chuckled against the back of her hand.

"We haven't been properly introduced. Neon Acid, Disco's told me a lot about you." The girl with the pink and blue hair smiled, nodding her head politely with that upturned corner of her lip never fading.

"In that case, I probably don't need to introduce myself at all do I?" Tiger smiled and offered his hand for her to shake. He pulled away quickly and inhaled deeply before getting down to the reason he was there at all. "Hey, Disco… Can I have a word with you for a few moments?" He glanced over at Neon Acid who knew exactly what he wanted; he could tell. "Alone?"

"Oh don't mind me." Acid flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled. "I was going to go meet up with Fun Ghoul and some of the others to celebrate anyway. Talk to you later, Disco." Acid turned on her heel and walked away, adjusting the bright pink bullet clip hanging loosely around her shoulder.

"See you later Neon Acid, you'll have to finish that story you were telling me later." Disco waved to her eagerly then turned back to look at Tiger Beatdown, her nerves getting the best of her immediately. She couldn't get it out of her mind, the things they had done in the watches of the night. "I was kind of in the middle of a conversation… This couldn't have waited?"

"Oh really, I couldn't tell that. And no, it couldn't have waited." Tiger smiled, but his voice betrayed him with sarcasm thick in each word. "Why are you avoiding me Disco?"

"I'm not avoiding you. I was in the middle of something, I just told you that."

"You've been in the middle of something for two days now and I'm tired of waiting…" Tiger leaned next to her against the wall, propping his shoulder there. He was doing his best not to sound as frustrated as he felt.

"I didn't mean to avoid you. This last day has me conflicted over some stuff, that's all. It has nothing to do with anything personal"

"Is it about me? This conflict?" Tiger looked at her skeptically. If she had fears, he wanted to help her put them to rest. If she had doubts, he wanted to erase them. If she was just sad he wanted to make her smile. _Please, let me be there for you._

"No, Tiger." Disco laughed a bit, looking down at the ground. "Look, all I've been thinking about is you, so I tried to remove myself a little. I couldn't distract myself with what's going on between us when… the Killjoys need me. They need us."

"I know that, but I need you too."

"No you don't…"

"Yes… I do." Tiger smiled a bit, relief on the edge of his mind. He slipped his arm around her shoulder and urged her to lean against him in a comforting way.

"I can't tell you how to feel."

"Damn right you can't…"

"You did great out there last night, you know." Disco looked up at him, leaning her body against his arm, hoping for a change of topic.

"I know." He smirked, puffing out his chest in a cocky manner. "I'm pretty good at what I do."

"You are."

"Can I ask you something? Something serious?"

"I would've come up with an excuse already if I was really avoiding you Tiger." Disco lied.

"Why the hell did you go with Alpaca yesterday?"

"Oh…" Disco cleared her throat and shrugged her shoulders.

"Uh oh, do I not want to hear this?"

"I should've told you from the beginning. It's stupid really. Trust me, no part of me _wanted_ to spend that much time with him."

"Then why did you specifically request to go with him if that's the case?"

"It's complicated."

"Spit it out, you just said it was stupid then changed it to it was complicated."

"I don't want you to think I was eavesdropping." Disco pouted out her bottom lip. Tiger poked the lip ring on her bottom lip with the edge of his finger and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Tell me."

"I overheard you and Alpaca fighting outside of the tent that night." Disco kept reliving those two defining moments over and over in her mind. _I've never made love like that to anyone before. I'm not innocent, not by far, but it was never like that. I've also never been fought over like that before either. This is a huge commitment, and I didn't think it through. Spontaneity can cause so much unspoken trouble._

"Oh." Tiger Beatdown grumbled in realization. "Well, that explains a lot. Why would you go with him after that though? You couldn't possibly have been siding with him."

"I wasn't, trust me." Disco began very quickly. _My doubts are my own and I'll find my way through them. Tiger's too sweet, too kind. He deserves more than some assassin torn between moral compasses._ "You two have been friends for years, you said so before. You told me once he was your most trusted confidant even though you disagree on a lot of issues. I refuse to be the reason that your friendship breaks apart."

"Disco…"

"No, listen to me." Disco held her hand up and pressed her fingers to his lips to silence him. "I wanted to try. I wanted to see if there was some way that I could convince Agent Alpaca that I'm not out to hurt you like he thinks I am. I let him know where I stood. I told him I'm not going away. He told me how he felt and… I think we came to an understanding." Disco lied blatantly this time. They hadn't had time for an understanding, not with the Dracs running amok out in the zones that afternoon, not with Korse in such close proximity.

"Really?" Tiger cocked an eyebrow, kissing the tips of her fingers and then grabbing her wrist to pull it away so he could talk clearly. "He understood?"

"From what I could tell. We were able to work together, so why not?" Disco shrugged her shoulders and slipped from his arms. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Rainbow Riot approaching, looking like she was in search of someone. From what she had observed earlier, she could assume that it was her beau, Vengeful Venom. Tiger tugged her arm back and smiled a little bit.

"Thank you for doing that… You didn't have to."

"I know I didn't. I wanted to. I don't want you to fight with Alpaca over me, it's stupid."

"That's what I told him."

"Until you punched him in the face."

"Yeah, until that point." Tiger chuckled slightly and kissed her forehead, closing his eyes. "Thank you… I mean it."

"I know you do… Look Tiger, I hate to cut this short…" Disco swallowed again nervously. The lump in her throat just wouldn't dissipate. _I want this, why am I so nervous? Why do I have to sabotage everything that might make me happy?_

"You know, Disco… if something's ever bothering you… you can talk to me about it. I won't get upset. Not even if it's about something going on with us. If you have issues, I want us to work on them."

"I know. I know… it's not that… It's just that… Rainbow Riot and I were talking earlier about her boyfriend or… whatever he is… The Drac, and she was really upset about something and I couldn't get it out of her so… I think she's looking for me now. I'm going to run and help her out okay?" Disco hoped he'd buy the story. She wanted to hold him, kiss him, remember the passion they'd shared the night before but in the same breath she wanted to figure out the chaos in her head before she did something stupid or said something to drive him away.

"You're a good friend, you know that?"

"Yeah, I do… thanks." Disco leaned up to kiss him, closing the short height gap between them. Her heart still raced when they did such a thing. The soft curve of his lips, their lip rings brushing against soft flesh as they kissed was enough to give her chills. "I'll see you later, then."

"See you." Tiger waved to her. Disco ran off after Rainbow Riot, catching up to her as she headed into the distance.

"Hey, what's going on Disco?" Rainbow smiled solemnly. Despite Disco having made excuses, she'd been pretty spot on about Rainbow Riot's emotions.

"Not much…" Disco shrugged her shoulders and walked next to her.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, just fine. I just wanted to have a word with Tiger."

"You two looked awfully smitten."

"Yeah, it's good." Disco and Riot headed off into the camp to talk. Tiger watched Disco leaving, only feeling half relieved by their conversation. _She's still hiding something damnit. I'll figure it out. I'm not giving up._

"Got a minute?" Tiger nearly jumped a mile at the sound of Agent Alpaca talking to him.

"Yeah… sorry."

"I didn't mean to sneak up on you… and I swear I wasn't listening in to you and your girl talking. I just wanted to see how you were doing." Alpaca shrugged. _I was never good with apologies, and I still feel like I don't owe him one. He threw the first punch… and over some stupid girl to boot._

"It's fine. I just was lost in my own thoughts."  
>"Seems to be the trend lately in this place." Alpaca muttered.<p>

"I heard a Drac bit you, is that true?"

"Yeah, I guess that solves the mystery involving them and cannibalism right?"

"I don't know, biting is a pretty primitive instinct. Maybe he just didn't _like_ you. You are awfully abrasive sometimes."

"You didn't bite me when I pissed _you_ off…" Alpaca was dancing around talking about the fight they'd had. He hated that he hadn't gotten to talk to him about it or work it out and that so much time had passed since it had occurred.

"Yeah, I'm also much more… in control of my baser instincts."

"Really? Is that so?"

"Yeah, you were out of line that night."

"I was out of line wasn't I?" Alpaca winced and forced a smile.

"Yeah… I was too though. I shouldn't have gotten so angry and worked up." Tiger shrugged. "You don't know her like I do, Alpaca. I think I could love her. It's not just me searching for something that isn't there. It's not me afraid of dying. I've never been less afraid of dying than I am now. I'd do anything to protect this now that I have it, even if it means dying."

"I get it." Alpaca shrugged. "I still don't like her."

"I know." Tiger sighed heavily. "She talked to you the other day?"

"She tried to."

"You need to really give her a shot, man. Do it for me."

"I'm trying. This on top of the whole… Dracs infiltrating the Killjoys… not to mention the deaths and the… chaos all around us. It's a lot to deal with in a week."

"I know it is." Tiger clasped his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Just don't go out of your way to torture her anymore."

"I won't." Alpaca held up his hand, resting it over his heart. "Scout's honor."

"We're the scouts now, mother fucker." Tiger laughed, shoving his friend playfully. _He won't apologize to me. He doesn't need to. This is how we fix things… and I'm just fine with that._

"Damn right we are." Alpaca cleared his throat. "So what was that all about? With… her."

"Nothing man. I think she's just really shaken by the last few days."

"Who can blame her? I do have to give her one thing though."

"What is that?"

"She was right about Party Poison the whole time." Alpaca looked at his friend seriously. Tiger smiled at that. _This is as close to an apology as I'll ever get from him. I could fucking hug him right now but I doubt he'd appreciate that._ "I guess if she was right about that prick still being loyal to the Killjoys then maybe she could be right about a few other things too."

"I love you, man." Tiger smiled after a moment of thinking about his friend's statement. Alpaca merely chuckled in response. Alpaca merely admitting he was wrong was a huge step in the right direction. The moon was high in the sky, obscured by clouds. The next day would lead to more hardships, they were sure, but for the night, they could rest at ease.


	19. Seven Shades of Crazy

The blanket didn't help her shivering at all and each brush of the wool fibers against her skin merely caused the sensation of pins and needles to spread over the affected area. Laying was starting to feel akin to torture. Poison tossed and turned next to her on his mattress. The sound of the sheets rustling beneath his body echoed in her mind, reminding her of the cold scrapping sounded caused when metal collided against metal. She shrugged her shoulders and put her hands over her ears to try and drown out the sound but it persisted, even got louder. Sweat dripped down her face, building up on her skin and causing her hair to be drenched and stick against her cheekbones.

_You deserve this pain you're in. You would've given into him if he hadn't stopped. Even the sex addict knew it was wrong but you still kept going. What the hell is wrong with you anyway?_

"Stop it…" Frenzy whispered to herself and held her ears tighter, squeezing her head in an attempt to push the voice inside of her away. Her stomach lurched in objection to her motions and she blinked her eyes open to try and restore her equilibrium. The world spun around her and with vision blurred, she carefully stepped out onto the cold concrete floor of his room. Her feet stung with pins and needles like the rest of her and she hunched forward holding her stomach, whining quietly to express her discomfort.

_You didn't bring enough pills from home, did you stupid? Is that why you were creeping around here earlier? You know it was the reason I was creeping around, you were there, remember?_ Frenzy groped in the darkness of the room to try and find the bathroom once again. She stumbled and fell onto the floor in the doorway. After a moment of desperate crawling she found the toilet and dry heaved. _Why don't you just let it out, huh? Throw up, then it'll wake him up and he'll come running to your aid, just like you want him too. That's not what I want at all. I don't want or need his attention in the slightest._

Frenzy clamped her mouth shut and fought the wave of nausea passing through her to the best of her ability, tasting the bile building up in the back of her throat. _It'll be okay, just take deep breaths. This isn't the first time you've run out of drugs. You just have to find a distraction to keep you sane long enough to find more._ She opened one eye and peeked around the bathroom curiously. Poison had a rubber ducky sitting on the back of the toilet. Someone had drawn black fangs on it with a marker. It seemed sinister at the moment, though if she'd noticed it earlier she would've likely teased him about it. She crawled out of the doorway and peeked to see if Poison was still asleep, making sure she hadn't woken him up in her frantic state. He was laying the wrong way on his mattress, having taken over the spot she'd recently vacated.

Her body aching, she used the frame of the door to get to her feet and limped out of the bathroom and through his front room to the door that led outside. Clothing didn't seem incredibly important at the moment; not when so much was going on in her mind. She repeated her mantra over and over. If she could just find some work to do, maybe things wouldn't hurt so badly. The night air was warm, but she felt cold and clammy. She used the walls of buildings around her to manage her way through the camp without stumbling. She could smell the ammunition from the edge of Poison's home, the familiar scent of metal and fuel that she'd grown so accustomed to in her own home. It comforted her and she began toward it.

She slid the heavy metallic door open of the building that seemed to be the source of the smell and stared at the room filled with scrap metal and half stock piled with weaponry. This must have been the Killjoy armory. She vaguely remembered passing it earlier in the day; at least she thought she did, it hurt to think that far back. Only half closing the metallic door, she walked between the shelves filled with boxes of metal and ammunition. She grabbed pieces of metal that looked like they were from an old airplane and some other smaller, rounder pieces that she wasn't sure what they'd come from. The guns hanging on racks on the wall would be good to play with too.

Frenzy lifted one of the rifles from the rack and winced at the pain in her arms. The gun was far heavier than it should've been. Withdrawal made her muscles weak. Her head was pounding, spinning, aching, but she couldn't do anything until Party Poison left his home again and she was free to search once more for pills. She wasn't in any condition to be able to search the place quietly. She grunted in surprise as she fell onto the ground, managing to catch herself without skinning her knees, merely her palms and they were already skinned so it didn't matter. Her feet were tingling with numbness, which has been what caused her fall. Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the ceiling and concentrated on breathing. The task in itself sounded simple enough, but it was incredibly difficult to focus on.

_ Let it out. We're both thinking it._ Frenzy finally yelled in annoyance. There were no words in particular, just a sound of frustration. She picked up the small metallic piece she'd dropped and threw it at the wall. It ricocheted back at her and knocked several other metallic scraps on the floor. She forced herself to roll over and push back onto her feet.

"What was I thinking? What the hell was I thinking?" She shouted, with no regard to who actually heard what she was saying. She began to dig through the boxes on the shelves, knocking them to the floor when they were too high up for her to reach on her tip toes. The pain in her body didn't subside since she'd found something to occupy her thoughts, but it was easier to ignore when she was doing something like this. Her vision was blurred from the fever but she'd worked with metal long enough to know the dos and don'ts unconsciously. "I wasn't thinking. That's the problem. The last… week has been a waste of time, a huge colossal fucking waste of time!"

Frenzy couldn't remember how long it'd actually been since she'd met Party Poison so a week had been an estimate. It'd felt longer but it was too hard to think back that far when her head was already spinning. All she could think of when she thought of him were the words he said when he stopped what they were doing in his room and told her something was wrong with her. _Something _is_ wrong with you, why are you getting upset about that someone else finally pointed it out?_

"It doesn't matter!" Frenzy paced, then began to dig around in hopes of finding a screw driver and if she was lucky, a soldering iron. Her fingers were trembling too badly to use it properly but she didn't care. She'd burn her fucking flesh off if it meant she could stop thinking about the pain, the sweating, and the drugs she longed for. "Of course it matters, of course it fucking matters…" Frenzy whispered as she found a screw driver. She began to disassemble the gun she'd pulled from the rack, tossing pieces aside as she did. "It matters, it definitely matters…"

With a loud crash she slammed the screwdriver through the sheet metal in front of her very suddenly. Her hand vibrated from the force of the handle hitting the metal and she repeated the action several times until the piece of metal was unusable. She threw the screwdriver across the room, hearing some kind of metal echoing from the impact. Returning her hands to her head, she gripped at her hair in frustration and closed her eyes tightly.

"What have I become? One of them? I said I'd never do that… I vowed to make a difference. I've become selfish and greedy in just a matter of days thanks to that asshole…" _It's not his fault you faltered._ "All these years I've spent holding myself to a different standard of morality, a different set of rules and I throw it all away because of some charming words and some sexual tension? Fuck!" Frenzy's stomach objected to her violent outbursts and the vomit she'd been forcing herself to keep back for hours finally escaped past her lips. She held onto the nearest shelf and hunched forward, spitting out what remained in her mouth on the ground. When was the last time she'd eaten? She didn't remember that either. Was it the food a few nights prior at her camp? Did she even eat anything that night?

"It doesn't matter! I had a mission! I had a goal… What was it?" Frenzy coughed, the bile burning at her throat. It wasn't enough that she was going through withdrawal but her mind had to torture her with the things she'd done as well. "I'm pathetic. I let myself turn into one of them." Frenzy stumbled backwards and sat down on the ground. She picked up the destroyed piece of scrap metal and started bending and twisting it in hopes of ripping it apart. Her leg was aching and tingling very suddenly. She dropped the metallic pieces with her left hand rolled down the argyle stocking to her knee after untying the strap on her leg that held it up.

There were numbers burnt into her skin, decorated the best she could with the tools she had. The newest one looked infected which would have explained the pain and numbness. The scab was yellowish and enflamed. _Why hadn't I noticed that until now? Is it the drugs numbing the pain?_ Her mind was in a haze. She scratched at the burns on her leg and a small sadistic smile crept over her lips as she felt the scab give way and start to bleed and pus. The pain made her toes twitch.

"I promised to save them." Frenzy laughed, lying on her back on the ground and letting her mouth hang open. She was in hysterics now; the pain was motivating her laughter. "I failed… I failed… I failed…" She laughed in a sing-song tone and tugged at her hair with her right hand, trying and failing to find clarity within her thoughts.

_You can make it up to them you know. You don't have to stay here. You can leave and you can go back to the way things were._

"How do I do that? Everyone knows where I live now… everyone knows my secrets, even… Well, a few of my secrets… oh for fuck's sake BL/ind even knows I exist now…"

_Do they?_ Frenzy froze and thought about it. There was still a possibility that they had no idea who she was. She laid shivering on the cool concrete floor for a long time. The minutes ticked into an hour at least. It felt like every nerve ending in her body had been lit on fire. _I left my lighter…_ The pain reminded her of the object she'd sought solace in. She couldn't afford to go and look for it now. He'd be there and he'd ask what was wrong. _He would, wouldn't he? Small minded man, narrow minded man, he'd think it was something he said to drive me here. Like the world is so small and he so significant that he could change the way things are. Pathetic… and yet, poetic. _Her fingers finally left the scarred wounds on her leg alone. _So passionate about a cause he can't possibly keep going and so passionate about a woman he can't possibly aspire to have. Was it really passion at all? Don't you know? Maybe I don't. He's going to throw his life away hoping you'll wake up one day and be normal. He's right, something is incredibly wrong with you. Destroy, destroy, destroy, all you do is destroy. First yourself, then the kids, now this. It's not like that. Oh, but it is like that. _Frenzy stared blankly at the ceiling ahead of her, listening to the argument in her mind.

_You can turn it all around, you know, baby. You already know how._

"I'll save you…" Frenzy forced herself into a sitting position, her dark sweaty hair falling in her face. Each breath felt laborious and made her chest ache in pain. Her muscles tightened and objected to her movements but she didn't care. She pressed on. She had to build something. She finally found a way to channel her manic energy. "Alone…" The resolute tone in her voice offered solace to the lost souls in her mind. _They died alone with no one to care that they were gone, no one to help them as they gasped for their last breath. I'll remember them. I'll live for them. Just the way I had planned to._

She got carefully off of the ground and collected several guns from the racks without really looking at what they were. She placed them on the ground, near the soldering iron and went to work. It was dangerous to work without any gear, nonetheless without any clothing, but she figured the pain she was in couldn't get much worse so a burn wouldn't be the end of the world. The fire from the torch soothed her and excited her in the same moment. She couldn't stop smiling as she welded metal to metal and changed the guns into something they'd never intended to be. She'd have to test fire them to make sure that they worked but she did her best work in her most manic states.

_That's my girl. You're not a complete idiot, now are you? He won't stop you. Even you can't stop yourself, can you? What are you fighting for? Just give in._

"I'm working…" Frenzy tried to tune out the voice in her head. "I'm working, I'm working…"

_You'll never atone for your sins, little girl. You've been a bad motherfucker. The blood on the walls? That's your fault. Sinner. S-I-N-N-E-R. S-I-N. S-I-N._

"I'm a bad, bad, bad, bad girl…" Frenzy muttered in response. "I know that. So shut the fuck up…" The bile rose in her throat again but she ignored it. Her stomach violently objected and she slammed her fist on the concrete to distract from it. She refused to throw up a second time. Her hand throbbed in misery from the abuse it was being put through but the discomfort in her stomach lessened so she had accomplished what she'd set out to achieve.

* * *

><p>Rainbow Riot and Disco Bitch had spent hours walking around the camp and catching up on conversation. There wasn't a lot else to do besides sleep and it was clear that neither one of them were in the mood to do that. They'd run into a few other Killjoys along the way who had the same problem, but only a handful of them were still out at this late hour. Riot had spent hours venting about the situation she found herself in with Vengeful Venom. It had started to get repetitive after awhile but Disco had the feeling that Riot didn't often get to speak about her troubles to anyone besides Fire Frenzy and even that seemed like a rare occasion. Besides, Disco had seen how Frenzy handled other people's problems first hand and knew that the truth was sometimes hard to hear and even harder to accept when someone was shoving it in your face as bluntly as she tended to.<p>

Disco stopped walking as they passed the armory in the camp. Riot kept talking and walking on her own and after a moment realized that she'd been left to walk by herself and talking to no one. Disco had done her fair share of talking about Tiger as well, but as Riot relived her complicated situation with the reformed Drac, it all seemed irrelevant. There were lights on in the armory. _Did someone set it on fire? Oh shit, has Frenzy set a fire?_ They'd been told she was a pyromaniac but due to the circumstances under which they'd all met, none of them had really seen what kind of pyromania she suffered from. All the fires that they'd seen her set had been necessary. The lights flickered inside the building and as she stepped closer to the open door she could hear the roaring of some kind of flame. It didn't look like anything was actually _on_ fire. There wasn't enough smoke for any of it to actually be set ablaze.

"What's wrong?" Disco nearly jumped a mile out of her skin as Rainbow Riot stopped to inquire.

"Holy shit, you're quiet." Disco chuckled nervously and shook off her anxiety as quickly as she could.

"Sorry, you were really focusing pretty hard though. I even tripped on the way over here so I wasn't _that _quiet." Riot pointed to her boot which was covered in the dirt she must have kicked up when she tripped. "What's going on? Why'd you stop walking?" Riot peeked curiously over Disco's shoulder and since she had a good few inches on the girl it wasn't that tough for her to do.

"The lights in here… it looks like fire."

"It does… Do you think someone's working in there?" Riot shrugged. It didn't seem weird to her for there to be fire inside of an armory.

"In the middle of the night? Don't you think that's a little weird? Besides, we don't really use the fire in there very often." It was true. The Killjoys mostly outsourced for their weapons or stole them from the Dracs. There weren't a lot of people particularly skilled in that way. There was a man who worked with metal enough to make them swords and knives but no one had the kind of metal working skills required for gun work.

"You think it's Fire Frenzy, don't you?" Riot could tell that's what Disco was worried about. She thought about the possibility. "Hey, Frenzy may be obsessed with fire but she doesn't destroy things if she doesn't have to. If it's her in there, then she's building something… not burning it down."

"She's an arsonist though, isn't she?"

"No, she's not actually." Riot slid the door open the remainder of the way, wincing from the loud creaking sound it caused. "She's very often referred to as one, but she's actually just a pyromaniac… Not an arsonist. She's just _obsessed_ with fire. You don't have to set things _on_ fire to enjoy it. She's been known to set things on fire, of course and to enthuse about it but… most of the people I've seen burn because of her deserved it."

"Most of them?" Disco looked back at Riot as she walked into the armory.

"Well, when she gets on a roll sometimes it's hard for her to stop. Somehow, I don't think that's related to the pyromania." Riot smirked slightly, but then hushed as she heard something on the other end of the armory. Disco walked alongside her, looking at the thrown over boxes of metal scraps and torn apart weapons on the floor. Someone was muttering in the distance, but they couldn't make out any words.

They stopped at the end of the shelves and stared in surprise at what they saw. Frenzy sat in the center of a pile of scrap metal, half of it destroyed and half of it melted together into new weapons neither one of them had seen before. Frenzy, half dressed, was holding the soldering iron, a fresh burn on her forearm, her fingertips black and singed from working for so long unprotected. She was muttering and occasionally laughing underneath her breath. She looked pale and ill, sweat dripping down her skin, presumably from working so close to fire. Riot audibly gasped and covered her mouth in shock.

"Frenzy, honey!" Rainbow Riot ran over to her and started to pull weapons and scrap metal out of the way. Frenzy ignored her and continued to build as though she wasn't there. Disco walked around the pile and turned off the fuel source for the soldering iron. The fire died and Frenzy dropped the iron onto the floor, looking disappointed. "Frenzy, you're shaking all over, what's wrong?"

Frenzy looked up at Riot, seemingly only startled because the girl was trying to hug and comfort her. Frenzy swatted at Riot but winced in discomfort, the weakness in her hands and arms causing her to cradle them closer to her chest instead. The effort of trying to swat her away had been enough to make Riot cease her hugging attempts regardless.

"Don't touch her…" Disco could see the irritated look that Frenzy was trying to portray without words.

"I was building." Frenzy half whispered-half muttered. Riot was pulling the scrap metal away from her and the metal away from between her lips. Frenzy had half a dozen thin wires and screws between her lips which she had clearly been using. Frenzy pouted when the metal was taken away. She scrambled to pull one of the guns back to her but Disco Bitch tossed it out of her reach. "Hey, be careful with those!"

"Frenzy, what the hell is wrong with you?" Riot grabbed the girl by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. Frenzy was only half there, she could tell. Her eyes were half-lidded and blood shot and she seemed to stare through Rainbow Riot in response.

"What's wrong with _you_?" Frenzy retorted after a moment of thinking. It wasn't clever, but it was the best she could come up with in the state she was in. Her mind was foggy and her body aching in pain. The comeback seemed to have worked enough to startle Riot.

"What does she mean by that? What's wrong with _me_? Is there something wrong with me?" Riot looked to Disco.

"Go find a blanket or something. She shouldn't be walking around like this." Disco leaned down and reached to touch the scars and scabs on her legs. There was blood all over the floor and she guessed this was the source. It looked like something was written in the scar tissue on her skin but Frenzy grabbed the argyle sock before the woman got a chance to look at it. Frenzy wrapped the strap around her leg to keep the sock up and in its proper place, hiding her scars properly. Each scar, each scrape, each dig into her skin felt renewed, shooting pain through her leg. She wasn't sure she could walk on the wounded leg properly, at least not without limping horribly. The lack of medicine affecting her system was making every old wound ache, even those she'd long forgotten about.

Riot returned from outside a few moments later, having rushed off to retrieve a blanket to cover Frenzy with. Disco put the back of her hand to Frenzy's forehead and the girl twitched and pulled away. Her forehead was on fire, as she had suspected.

"You look ill… are you alright?"

"She looks ill?" Riot furrowed her brow and draped the blanket around Frenzy's shoulder. Frenzy shouted in objection. Each touch of the blanket on her skin sent her nerves on fire. She whined and bit at her lip to tear more of the skin off of them to help calm her nerves.

"Yeah, her skin's really clammy and sweaty, her eyes are blood shot… My guess is she's got some kind of infection from whatever she's hiding underneath that sock." Disco shrugged her shoulders, cocking an eyebrow. "We should get her to the infirmary and let Jet-Star or Neon Rocket take a look."

"I will cut… your fucking hands off if you try to get me to the infirmary." Frenzy glared at Disco and gave her a sadistic smile, letting the woman know she'd enjoy the opportunity.

"Oh no…" Riot furrowed her brow and looked glaringly at the much smaller girl who was now pulling the blanket tighter around her. "It's the drugs isn't it, Fire Frenzy? You're going through withdrawal!"

"Oh, she's an addict is she?" Disco Bitch looked surprised. She hadn't read Frenzy out to be into painkillers. If anything, she had expected the woman to be the straight edge sort that didn't touch drugs or alcohol at all. A whole new light was being shown upon the pyromaniac.

"It's not… the drugs." Frenzy looked back up at them both, irritated that they'd talk like that about her as though she wasn't in the room at all. She was, of course, lying, but it was irritating nonetheless. She stumbled to her feet and shoved Riot's hand away when the woman tried to help her from the ground. "I don't need or want your help." She stumbled back and grabbed at the shelf closest to her for balance. Her head was swimming so she closed her eyes to help it stop. Her lip was bleeding down her chin in small trickles and she let her tongue clean it as quickly as she could.

"If it's not the drugs, then what the hell is wrong with you?" Riot was beginning to sound accusing. The two had fought over drug abuse before and Riot had made it very well known how she felt about it. She'd never approved of the pharmaceutical abuse Better Living forced people into and it had only become a much stronger opinion when she'd met Vengeful Venom and saw the way it could ruin lives first hand. Frenzy had told Riot, every single time that she'd asked her to stop taking the medicine, it was none of her business and nothing she could say would change her mind and it never had but Riot had also never given up.

"It looks like withdrawal now that I think of it. When I was going through it for the alcohol it wasn't _this_ bad but depending on what drugs she's on, it could be really nasty…" Disco was musing her thoughts out loud. No one seemed to actually _believe_ Frenzy wasn't going through withdrawal.

"It's definitely withdrawal, she hasn't gotten injured and unless she was the _only_ person to contract the flu after being in that rain…"

"It's not fucking withdrawal, will you two go the fuck away?" Frenzy was finally able to concentrate on something other than the nausea and the flustered feeling the withdrawal filled her with. "I've forgotten what's important! I've thrown away the things I swore myself to, for selfish reasons. _That's_ what's wrong with me." Disco and Riot exchanged confused glances. _What the hell is she talking about? We've done a great thing this week, our little group. What about this is selfish?_ Disco was confused. She looked to Riot for help but the girl didn't seem to have any clue either.

"It's okay to be selfish every once in awhile. It won't kill you and it certainly won't give you a fever." Disco argued, reaching a hand out to steady Frenzy. She smacked Disco's hand away and tightened the blanket around her body, finding it comforting at last.

"I'm not like _you._" Frenzy scoffed in frustration. "That's why you're all failing. It's thinking like that… Thinking that one selfish act can be overlooked because of the numerous good deeds done… That's the reason the Killjoys are failing. That's the reason you're corrupted and filled with Dracs."

"Hey, back off!" Disco narrowed her eyes at Frenzy defensively. "You know what's selfish? Walking around like you're so much better than the rest of us, hiding your feelings, isolating yourself when you could be doing some good like the rest of us!"

"Don't get me fucking started on the wastes of working with you people." Frenzy brought her arm up to cover her mouth, trying to stop the urge to vomit once again.

"Stop!" Riot grabbed Disco's arm to keep her from arguing. "She's not in her right mind. Maybe we should just go get Party Poison and see what he wants to do about her." Frenzy froze up at the mere sound of his name.

"I don't need his fucking help and I didn't ask for yours either! I was building something! Leave me alone!" Frenzy slammed her fist against the shelf nearest her, knocking down some of the scrap metal that she'd left precariously balanced against it. Riot watched in hock upon seeing how angry Frenzy had become when she'd suggested seeing Party Poison. Disco rolled her eyes and crossed her arms and muttered something about her being a stubborn bitch.

"That's it, isn't it?" Rainbow Riot broke out into a wide grin, suddenly excited at the revelation she'd come to. "That's it! It's him! He's why you're feeling selfish! Right? I knew it… I just knew it when I found you guys in the second zone. This is the second time I've run into you half naked and I've only seen you like this twice since I've known you so…"

"Oh for the love of…" Frenzy leaned her head back in frustration.

"You really think she's having this mental breakdown because she's got some kind of attachment to Party Poison?" Disco looked skeptical. She knew Party Poison was a heartbreaker, but no man was worth this kind of lunacy.

"You don't know her like I do, this is a huge thing!"

"You don't know her either, you said that earlier. You called her what… your screwed up cousin, if I recall?"

"I know her better than you do. She doesn't open up, okay? This is as open as Frenzy gets."

"I think she's really sick. I think that we need to go talk to Jet-Star if anyone… Not Party Poison. He's got enough problems without her and her constant bashing of our organization." Disco half expected Frenzy to retaliate violently to her statement but realized after a half a moment that the girl had completely walked away from them. She turned to look for her to see that Frenzy was limping out of the armory. Rainbow Riot continued on the reasons why she thought Frenzy would be effected by Poison stirring up her "inner feminine side" while Disco merely listened now. She had bigger things on her mind.

_I shouldn't have talked to her like that. She's been good to us, kind even. Without her we would've never been able to take back the base. Without her, I probably never would've gotten the chance to love Tiger. Without her, we'd probably all be dead by now._ Disco would figure out a way to help Frenzy, but she wouldn't tell Rainbow Riot. Disco broke the conversation by suggesting that they clean up the armory, or at least what remained of it, so that no one would get hurt if they stepped on something that Frenzy had tossed around in her madness. This had been enough to successfully distract Rainbow Riot from the topic of Party Poison and send her back to her own woes in her mind about Vengeful Venom.

* * *

><p>Frenzy walked with her eyes half-lidded, trying to recall the path she'd taken from Poison's home to the armory. She was mentally exhausted, so the voices in her head seemed to be taking a break from torturing her. She knew what she had to do, but it wouldn't be easy with so many conflicting emotions. She stopped walking in front of the house with all the drawings on the walls. She stopped to lean against the wall, the uneven paint scratching at her face which almost felt comforting. She touched the door with her bandaged hand and listened for signs of life inside of it. Her body was shaking but she'd grown used to it. It was even easy to ignore the pain in her leg as long as she kept biting at the inside of her mouth to distract from it.<p>

Frenzy waited for a wave of nausea to pass before going inside of Poison's dark house. She held the door as she opened it to keep it from swinging back and slamming needlessly. She leaned against it as she closed it, taking a moment to breathe. The room seemed the same as it had been earlier. Her eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness on the walk over and she could see the silhouettes of the things she'd observed earlier.

She walked carefully on her toes, trying to be as quiet as she could. She couldn't wait for Poison to wake up to ask if he had any pills, nor could she wait for him to leave so she could search for his hidden stash. There weren't any other choices, she had to search now while he slept and risk him waking up and scolding her in the process. Any further confrontation with Party Poison was more than she could think about at the moment. She had decided the best thing for her to do was to stay away from him until her head had cleared.

Slowly she retraced their steps from the doorway of the bathroom. She picked up the clothing she'd lost and dropped the blanket as she reached his room. He was sleeping still in that spot she'd left him in. If things weren't so distressing, she would've found the sprawled out pose endearing. Piece after piece, she slipped her clothing back where it belonged. It was comforting to be back in these things even though they were filthy and covered in sweat from their battles over the week.

Something about not being exposed anymore calmed her nerves. She picked the blanket up off of the floor and with incredibly shaky hands she draped it over the back of the chair in the main room. Returning to his bedroom, she crouched down to search for her lighter. The things that he'd done with the lighter to lure her to him still haunted her thoughts. She snatched it off of the floor and held it close to her chest for a moment, almost as though she were giving it a hug. Turning to look once over her shoulder at Poison to make sure he was still sleeping, she flicked the lighter and basked in the familiar flame.

Things were slowly falling back into place. The physical symptoms of withdrawal still plagued her but if nothing else her mind would be clear enough to concentrate on the task at hand until she could manage to rectify the pharmaceutical imbalance forming so quickly in her blood.

Lighter in her right hand, she flicked at the metallic thumb wheel, listening to the sound it made as it scraped against the flint, creating spark after spark. She never pushed it hard enough to stay lit, just enough for the sparks to flicker and warm her palm. Somewhere in this small building Poison called a home she'd find drugs and if she didn't, she'd leave right away. She had some unfinished business amongst the Killjoys now and was hoping to prevent leaving immediately, but she would do what was necessary for her mental health and for the task at hand.

Frenzy walked around to the side of the bed Poison had initially slept on before he'd begun restlessly shifting and started to dig through the nightstand there. Mostly she found things she hadn't wanted to ever see, such as condoms and trophies from the women he'd told her about before. She closed the drawer in annoyance and resisted muttering nasty things about him, then continued her search. At the end of the bed was an old and worn wooden trunk. She sat on the floor and flicked the flame on her lighter bright enough so she could see the carvings on the side of it.

She would've had to have been heartless to not smile at the small carving on the side. _"Kobra Kid and Party Poison – Good Luck"_ There were little hearts next to the carving and by the condition of the rest of it, she could tell it was old. On the bottom corner she saw a name, a very distinct name and year but it had been scribbled out. Frenzy brushed her finger over the gouge in the wood and wondered, for the first time, what his real name had been.

Much to her surprise, when she pressed her fingers inside of the gouged wood, the side of the trunk gave. She brushed her fingers over the crease now visible just above the gouge. There was a hidden compartment at the bottom of the trunk. _Jackpot. If I had drugs to sell, this is where I'd hide them._

Frenzy greedily pulled at the hidden compartment and exhaled in disappointment when she realized it was too narrow to fit any pill bottles inside.

"Damn…" It had been too good to be true. There was no way that she was going to find pills this early into her search. But perhaps what she'd found inside of the compartment was reward enough for her troubles. There was a stack of papers about an inch high, all signed from the same name. Death-iNation.

It had taken her a moment to recall who exactly that was since she'd only half listened to Poison when he spoke half the time and the withdrawal was clogging her mind. _He'd said he was a sleeper cell in Battery City. When we were sneaking into the City to see what the Dracs were up to, he'd mentioned that he was his informant and he'd gone dark. I think that's what he said at least._

Frenzy looked through the papers and skimmed over the contents of the letters. The ones on the top didn't contain much information, merely expressed Nation's fears in regards to working so closely amongst the Dracs. As she continued reading though, the contents became far more interesting.

The twelfth letter instructed Poison that he'd found the medicinal database and backup system. He said if they could ever get explosives into the building he'd be able to blow Better Living and all their secrets sky high. He'd also mentioned that he found the control database for the Dracs but he was unable to access it at that time. He was too nervous to get any closer to it and as the letters continued he hadn't mentioned it again. She flipped through the pages and saw the standard information she had expected she'd find from someone spying on the Dracs. Most of the time, even the Dracs had no idea what they were up to; they were merely pawns, blindfolded in a very complex game of chess.

Frenzy read eagerly under the flame of her lighter, the effort of holding the thumb wheel making her fingers sore. The last page was a flyer with the Killjoys black widow insignia on it. Frenzy recalled Poison telling her about this last cryptic transmission. Above were the words Instigate-Obliterate-Destroy and below were the words Widow-Maker. Frenzy let her lighter go and examined the paper to see if maybe there was something else on it. After a thorough inspection she placed the paper upside down on the stack in front of her. She flicked her lighter back on and leaned close to the floor to try and see how to slip the secret compartment back in place.

She stopped as the flame got close to the paper. There was writing on the back of the flyer. She picked it up and held the flame close to it. The writing got clearer as the paper warmed. She'd have to be careful not to burn a hole in the paper while she searched. Her heart stopped dead as she read the notice.

_I'm being watched so I'll make this quick. I've received numerous reports of 'vampires' hiding out in the old theater on the south side of Battery City. Better Living has been doing everything they can to put these complaints to bed but also to spread the rumor of the vampires. It's strange and I think the Killjoys should look into it. Orphans have been rumored to disappear there and children have been transferred there from the Juvenile halls. Please, get back to me when you can._

_ I might have to go dark soon. I'll make contact again as soon as I can. Stay safe out there._

_ -Death-iNation_

Frenzy put the lighter back into her corset and stared at the note for a long time. She looked up at Party Poison who lay with his mouth hanging open, drooling on the bed and snoring quietly. He had no idea there was anything else on this note. He probably had never received an encrypted message before like this one. It had been clever of this Death-iNation to do it this way. It was like he was handing out Drac propaganda and instead he'd really been sending a warning message to the Killjoys.

This was just what Frenzy needed. It was the break she'd been waiting for. She could go to the theater and she could see what was going on firsthand. Then she could find Death-iNation and find out how to get to the main computers. Once she'd done that, she could finally put an end to the terrible things Better Living did to the children living out on the streets. There wouldn't be another child lying awake for days at a time in an alleyway waiting to be taken. At least not because of Better Living, there wouldn't.

But if Party Poison knew about this note, he'd want to help her. She was sure of that. She'd seen what happened when Poison tried to help her and she didn't want that kind of assistance. Poison's intentions were true, for the most part, in regards to the Killjoys, but he'd make a mess of things. And despite his objections, his red hair and personality made him a huge target for the Dracs. She'd never be able to sneak into Battery City with him next to her. By herself? Sure. She had decided that no one had a good enough look at her in the last few days to peg her as a wanted Killjoy, so she'd have a good chance of being able to sneak around Battery City without getting caught.

If she didn't tell him and just left he'd feel betrayed but he'd have no idea what she was up to in the city. He wouldn't know where to begin looking for her and if he by some rare chance figured it out, there would be no way for him to stop her.

If she told him, he wouldn't let her go on her own. She didn't realize she was crumbling the paper up in her hand until she looked back down at it and wondered why something was cutting at her. She'd given herself a paper cut on the side of her index finger while sitting lost in thought.

"I'm sorry, Poison." Frenzy whispered to the man on the bed after a moment then folded the paper up and stuck it inside of her corset next to her lighter. It was better not to tell him. She'd almost forgotten about the pain and the withdrawal while searching and now as she attempted to get back onto her feet, it all came flooding back. "Fuck…" She winced as she used the trunk to slip herself back upright. She had put the papers back the best she could, minus the one she'd taken. There seemed to be something stuck in the secret compartment preventing it from closing the entire way.

Her leg was throbbing and she'd have to remember to get the infection looked at when she got the chance. Hopefully she'd be able to find some drugs soon before she passed out from the pain of the withdrawal. She could end up as sick as Poison's brother was rumored to be. For a moment she wondered if he was just going through withdrawal, same as her. It was unlikely but she'd suggest it to somebody before she left. Confrontation with Poison was unavoidable but she'd try her best to keep it as short and painless as possible.

She couldn't tell him she was leaving but she knew going without saying goodbye would be shitty. She'd figured out what to do while he was asleep and though she couldn't tell him what her plans were, she thought he at least deserved a simple goodbye. Maybe she'd be able to give him some closure and let him go on without her. _Or maybe he doesn't care at all and you're reading way too much into it. He just wanted to get laid, and you're thinking he's in there pining for you._ Frenzy stood in the doorway of the bedroom for a long while, simply to regain her balance on her wounded leg. _If that were the case, he would've gone for it regardless of how I felt earlier. _Frenzy nodded resolutely and decided she'd have to look elsewhere for the pills.

She walked out of his home, closing the door quietly behind her. As she turned around she jumped nearly a mile to see Black Cherrybomb standing behind her. She put a hand to her chest and took a deep breath, observing Disco Bitch who was only a few steps behind Cherrybomb.

"What? Is this some kind of sick intervention? Because that would be pretty funny and a huge waste of your energy." Frenzy shrugged her shoulders and then looked away from them both.

Disco folded her arms over her chest and walked next to Black Cherrybomb. She hadn't liked any of the things that Frenzy had said to her earlier. It'd struck a nerve to hear someone accusing the Killjoys of the things they'd done. In fact, it had reminded her of when she'd told Party Poison to go to hell when they first met. She'd been in denial about the reality of the situation against Better Living. Even as fucked up as they were now, the Killjoys were still the world's best bet against Better Living.

Despite how they'd been at odds, after cooling down and walking Rainbow Riot back to the tent they'd set up for her and Vengeful Venom, she'd realized that she needed to help Frenzy. The girl hadn't been in her right mind when she was talking, that had been clear. If she was an addict, she needed to offer her the same kind of help that Poison had offered her so long ago.

If this girl meant anything at all to Poison, and Disco suspected she did, then he'd want her to do this for him. And if Frenzy cared at all for Poison, she would take her help.

"I know you're an addict."

"Again, if this is an intervention then you're wasting your time." Frenzy knew she looked dreadful. Her eyes were sunken in, skin paler than usual, covered in sweat and she was scratching and twitching much like an addict you'd see on a street corner in the slums of the first zone. "Yeah, I'm an addict. I'm a big girl, I can make my own choices."

"You lied to us back there."

"Yeah, I do that a lot. You should be used to it by now. You're surrounded by liars." Frenzy didn't have the patience for arguing with either of them.

"I'm going to take that for what it is. You're irritable because you're going through withdrawal."

"I already told you…"

"And you lied. You have every symptom of withdrawal… from Innoculess to be specific. I looked it up with the help of some of the other Killjoys."

"You have no right to go spreading any of my business around this place. I'm not one of you."

"Like hell you are." Disco Bitch furrowed her brow. "You fought side by side with us! You saved Poison's life out in the second zone that day when the Killjoys were after him. You can use whatever excuse you want, but you're a fucking Killjoy." Disco knew it wasn't the smartest idea to instigate the woman, but she needed to get her point across. "You can call yourself… an arsonist, an arm's dealer… whatever you want but you fight for the same things that we fight for and when it comes down to it you're either with us or against us. There is no middle ground, no compromise… You're a Killjoy or you're a Drac. Plus, I didn't go around telling anyone. I just listed your symptoms."

"And all those people we're protecting, which side are they on?"

"Don't argue with me. You know what I'm talking about."

"Again, intervention… pointless… can I go now or do I have to push you out of my way?" Frenzy knew that in this moment she stood no chance against the woman there in front of her, but she wasn't going to let her know that.

"Cherrybomb, go ahead." Disco shook her head in dismay. Black Cherrybomb pulled his arm from behind his back and handed Frenzy a small bag of pills. Frenzy stared at the pills, then back to the both of them.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Frenzy looked at them both in disbelief.

"No joke. I know you need the pills to function. Don't tell Riot I gave them to you, I know how much she hates that you take them."

"I can't pay you for them."

"I don't expect you to."

"What's the catch then?"

"After we figure out what the hell happened here? You get clean. I'll help you."

"Oh no, no, no, no… I am not some Killjoys charity case." Frenzy laughed and swept her sweaty hair out of her face. "I'll find my own pills, thank you. The kind without strings attached."

"Take them." Cherrybomb grabbed her hand and pushed the bag into it. "You need it. The Killjoys aren't equipped to deal with your symptoms right now and you're going to probably end up dying if you don't." Frenzy held the bag in her hand and contemplated the situation in front of her.

"I'm not promising to get clean."

"That's fine." Disco softened and Frenzy was confused by the concern on her face. "But when you're ready to remember what it's like to _feel_, come find me and I'll help you. No matter how bad it is by then."

"I'm not going to ask why you're doing this because I don't honestly care." Frenzy said coldly but was curious of one thing. She turned to leave, thinking it over and over in her head before turning back to Cherrybomb and Disco Bitch. "Where did you get these anyway?"

"Ah, that would be my doing." Black Cherrybomb spoke up, looking rather proud of himself. Frenzy cocked an eyebrow as if to ask how. "You know how they found the Dracs that had infiltrated the Killjoys, right? Well they'd confiscated their belongings and they had a half filled bottle of this shit. I took it and emptied it. You need it far more than they do."

"That's actually clever. I don't know why I didn't think of it." Frenzy shrugged and winced, not allowing too much of the pain she felt to reflect on her face.

"I'm sure it was hard to think straight when your body is sending you repeated signals of strain." Cherrybomb nodded his head. The three stood awkwardly gathered in front of Party Poison's home and after a moment, Frenzy shuffled her feet slightly and managed to say something she'd never been too good at saying.

"Thank you." She turned away from them both and headed through the dirt to find somewhere quiet. She had a lot to figure out and a lot to plan in a short amount of time. By this time tomorrow she planned on being far away from the Killjoy camp and right back on track with her vendetta against Better Living Industries.

Disco and Cherrybomb watched Frenzy walk off into the darkness.

"Why did you let her go like that?" Cherrybomb asked once Frenzy had disappeared from view.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, you could've gotten her to do anything you wanted. If you'd just given her a few hours she would've been so miserable that she would have been begging for the pills. You could've had her admit she's a Killjoy and give you free weapons for life. Not to mention, I could've gotten something out of it since you're not going to give into my charms anytime soon."

"I want her to get clean and admit to these things because she wants to, not because she needs something from me." Disco sighed. "We'd be just as bad as BL/ind if we forced her to do something against her will using the drugs."

"I know… I was just curious to see what you'd say." Cherrybomb laughed then pouted as Disco punched his shoulder.

"Go get some sleep."

"Yes, ma'am."


	20. Preferred Lies

_Bang, bang, bang_.

Was that sound in his head? Was it really someone banging on his door? Should he wake up and see who was knocking, and what they wanted? Poison's head was pounding as he slowly opened his eyes. He stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom, which spun into focus after a moment, and waited to hear the sound once again. After a few moments of laying there and staring at his ceiling without hearing a sound, he decided that maybe he'd imagined it after all. The headache that had formed overnight could surely have caused such an illusion. He was surprised that it was the only complaint he had after the days prior and all the wounds he'd sustained in the heat of battle, not to mention the lack of sleep, hygiene and food.

_Bang, bang, bang_.

The sound repeated and proved to be real. He propped himself up on his arm and whined from the pain that flooded up to his shoulder. _I spoke too soon I guess_. His arm was going to be sore for a long time most likely, he might as well get used to it. He looked to his right on the bed to wake Fire Frenzy, assuming she was still sound asleep. He wasn't sure if she was a light sleeper or not, but he hadn't heard her stir like he'd done when he heard the sound of knocking on the door. The sheets next to him were vacant. He turned to look on his other side in case he'd forgotten where she'd laid. He groaned in frustration as the realization of her disappearance came over him. She was nowhere to be found. _Maybe she's already awake and showered?_

"Frenzy?" He looked around the room, letting his eyes adjust to the dim light the sun that managed to leak through the covered windows created. _Where the hell did she go?_ He stumbled out of his bed, the concrete floor cool against his feet. He scanned the floor in search of any trace of her. Her clothing was nowhere to be found, which meant she'd likely gotten dressed.

"God damnit…" She must have left sometime during the night. How hadn't he noticed that? She'd been such a comfort to him when he'd fallen asleep he thought for sure he would've held her prisoner the entire night in his arms, but instead he was waking up alone and feeling oddly dirty about it. He heard the knocking on the door for a third time and decided it was time to respond to it.

"Just give me ten fucking seconds, okay? God damnit…" He held his head in his hands for a moment to try and cease the spinning sensation he'd been feeling. It felt like he had a really rotten hangover with how bad this headache had become, and yet he'd had none of the fun that drinking used to bring him. "I just need some fucking pants…" He grumbled, more to himself than anyone, and then searched around for where he'd thrown his pants off the night before. The memory of what he'd done with Fire Frenzy, or rather what he hadn't done with her, tasted bitter that morning.

He should've just gone for it when he had the chance. He wanted it, she wanted it, and yet he didn't do _anything_ about it. It wasn't that he had been incapable of the act. Oh no, it hadn't been that at all. Instead he'd let his damn conscience actually put in its two cents when he'd seen that hazy look in her eyes. That was something he'd _never_ done before regarding his sexual escapades and he was kicking himself for it now. It would've been good for the both of them and then perhaps waking up feeling like the shit scraped off of someone's shoe would've been worth it.

He stumbled into his tan pants and zipped them, but left them unbuttoned. He slowly headed to the front door, grumbling the entire way about how fucking unfair everything was. It'd been the first time in days that he'd gotten more than an hour of sleep and it still felt unsatisfying. He felt as though he could lie down and sleep the rest of the day undisturbed, but knew better than that. If someone was already banging at his door this early in the day then he knew it was unlikely he would be sitting down again for a long time, if at all.

He opened the door and saw Fun Ghoul and Neon Acid, looking upset. _Uh oh, what else could have possibly happened while I was asleep?_

"What happened?" Poison exhaled deeply and let his arm rest against the frame of the door. He shielded his eyes from the sunlight, which was already blinding, even at this time of day.

"Are you alright?" Fun Ghoul asked first and foremost. Poison looked like he'd had a rotten night.

"I'm a little worse for wear, but surviving overall." Poison rotated his sore arm and pointed to the excellent binding job that Frenzy had done. Now that he was out in the sunlight and concentrating on something other than his libido, he could see that she'd really taken her time to do a good job.

"You look like shit. No offense." Neon Acid smiled for a moment then gave Fun Ghoul a serious look, followed by a comforting hand on his shoulder. Whatever it was the two of them had to tell Party Poison, it had to be serious. His first thought was that Fire Frenzy had done something ridiculous in the middle of the night and the second thought was that something was wrong with his brother. Both of these things terrified him. Fire Frenzy he could at least deal with but he had been trying desperately not to think of his brother and his illness.

"None taken." Poison muttered and rubbed his hands over his eyes to try and rid his mind of the exhaustion overtaking it. "Now, not to rush you on your way or anything, but what do you want? I'm tired, cranky and hungry so whatever it is… make it quick." Poison gestured for them to hurry up with what they wanted to tell him, moving his hand in a circular motion.

"Yeah, of course." Fun Ghoul cleared his throat nervously, glancing every so often at Neon Acid for encouragement. "You know how we discovered those Dracs hidden amongst the Killjoys, right?"

"Yeah, they're locked up, if I recall. Did you guys finally get something out of them? I know they were in interrogation for hours yesterday, but said nothing." Poison finally perked up. _Even bad news about the Dracs was better than bad news about Kobra Kid._ If they had some kind of lead from the Dracs it would be the best news he'd gotten in days. Now that he'd taken back his camp, he was at a loss with how to continue other than to send out scouts in hopes of finding some information to lead him in the right direction.

"No, no it's nothing like that." Fun Ghoul shifted his feet and then hung his head low. _Whatever it was, it must have been worse than that. Damn._ "During the night we left them alone, tied up together so we could all get some rest. We had guards set up outside of the building so that in the off chance they broke free of their bonds, they wouldn't be able to escape. When I went with Acid to check on them this morning and relieve the night guard… They'd…"

"They were dead." Neon Acid finished for him with a grimace, seeing that Fun Ghoul had been struggling with the news. Poison stared at them in disbelief for a moment, not having expected that at all. Acid and Fun Ghoul exchanged nervous glances while trying to read their leader to see how he was going to react to the bad news. _Our only lead is dead. How the fuck did that happen? Who let it happen? All the drama we've had in the last week with people not doing their damn jobs and this fucking happens? Shit._

"How? How the fuck did they die?"

"They killed themselves, sir." Neon Acid said very formally, wanting to spare Fun Ghoul from having to deal with Poison's wrath, which they could both see brewing beneath his skin. "We had Jet-Star come and take a look at them after we found them, but they must have had some kind of drug hidden on their person that we didn't find when we confiscated their personal belongings. Whatever it had been was extremely potent and killed them long before the night was over. It had to have been almost instantaneous for the guard to not have noticed."

"They've never done that shit before, Poison. When we captured the Dracs in the past, they would just sit in the fucking cell and nearly piss themselves while waiting to see what we'd do with them. Now they're fucking killing themselves so they don't have to deal with us? What the hell is Better Living hiding?" Fun Ghoul stressed how out of the ordinary the situation was as though it would somehow lessen the blow. He was waiting for Poison to explode and tell him how fucked they were, but no rush of anger seemed to come. This lack of response didn't do anything for Fun Ghoul's nerves. "Are… are you listening to me, Poison?"

"Yeah, I heard you, Fun Ghoul. The Dracs are dead and they killed themselves with some kind of drug we couldn't detect when we did the pat down. You don't know why or how or when."

"And… and you're not yelling." Fun Ghouls specified his reason for conflict. "You're not even turning red in the face. It's actually kind of freaking me out a little bit." He laughed just to ease his nerves.

"Well, it means they're scared. It means that whatever information they had been given would've given up something _very_ important to us. So, yeah, it fucking sucks that our only fucking lead is dead, but hell, Better Living doesn't know that. We can still use having them to our advantage. You're right, Better Living has to be hiding something really big and they must be really scared that we'll find out what it is. So yeah, I'm pretty pissed that the guard didn't bother to even look in on the Dracs once during his watch but… with this headache, all screaming is going to do is make the pain worse." Poison cocked an eyebrow and yawned, covering his mouth. "I'll save the screaming for when something more important happens. Excuse me if I'm not outraged over the death of a couple of shitty Dracs."

"What do you think we should do then?"

"I don't know… I don't fucking know, okay?" Poison was finally showing the irritation he was feeling given the circumstances. It had been a struggle to not let rage get the best of him but he was doing everything he could to keep from flipping his lid so early in the morning. "Strip their bodies, search everywhere and see if you can find any remaining information. I want to know what killed them. If this drug is something we don't know about, it could be damn good information in itself. If you can't find anything, then bury them just outside the camp. Try to be discreet about it. I don't want BL/ind to know that they're dead until we have to tell them."

"That's a good plan for the Dracs, but I meant what do we do now about… everything else?" Fun Ghoul was straining to figure out the situation at hand. So much had been happening in the last few days, none of it pleasant, and now the only plan they had for taking down BL/ind had been wiped away in a matter of hours. It was times like these where they needed Party Poison to come up with an incredibly brilliant plan, but with the way that he was acting right now, Fun Ghoul didn't exactly have faith that would happen anytime soon.

"I need to talk to Tiger Beatdown about that. It's not as simple as coming up with a plan and following it." Poison closed his eyes and leaned heavily against the frame of the door. "Go ahead and worry about the Dracs for now and I'll get back to you on the rest of it. Right now, I need a fucking shower."

"Of course, Party Poison." Fun Ghoul clasped his hand on his friend's shoulder, careful of his wound, then turned and walked away arm in arm with Neon Acid, who seemed just as concerned as he did. She was patting him on the back now as if to reassure him that he did all he could.

Poison closed the door and turned to go toward his bathroom when a second set of knocking interrupted his thoughts. He cursed under his breath and turned back to the door. _God damnit, I just want to take a cold shower, get cleaned up and find out what the hell happened to Fire Frenzy. Is that so much to ask? _ He pushed those thoughts away and then opened the door again to find out who needed him now.

"What?" He responded hastily without even looking to see who was knocking at his door. Jet-Star was looking at him, appearing just as wary as Fun Ghoul before him. "Oh Jet-Star, I already heard about the Dracs. Fun Ghoul was just here with Neon Acid and told me… so if you don't mind… I'm going to go and take a shower. I've got dirt in fucking places-"

"That's not why I'm here Poison. I saw Fun Ghoul leaving, I know he told you. In fact, I sent him to tell you after he made me look at the Dracs." Jet-Star interrupted his friend with a solemn glance. Poison wasn't sure he could take more bad news at this point. _What else could have gone wrong? Could it be Frenzy? She looked out of it last night, maybe she's ill…_

"What is it?"

"It's your brother." The blood in Poison's veins turned to ice. _How could I forget about Kobra? What kind of shit brother am I?_

"What? What happened? Is he okay?" Poison stepped barefoot into the desert and looked around. "Let's go. Show me what happened!"

"Poison, calm down… Okay?" Jet-Star grabbed his friend by the arm that wasn't wounded and took a deep breath. "He's stabilized for now but… it's not looking good. I know you saw him yesterday and you saw how bad it was but… I just wanted you to know what was going on with his condition. I'm going to tell you from here on in when his status changes. Last night… around three in the morning his blood pressure dropped. It's… it's not good. It's like his body is giving up what little life he had left. I've never seen anything like this before Poison. He was perfectly healthy just a few days ago and now he's on his last legs." Jet-Star watched Poison carefully, being prepared for any sort of physical reaction to the news in case he had to retaliate or dodge a punch.

"Fuck, his… his blood pressure? What… what does that mean?"

"Yeah, it means that his heart isn't pumping hard enough anymore. It needs to move the blood all the way through his body and it's not… well it wasn't for awhile. He's stabilized now."

"What can we do Jet-Star? What can I do to help?"

"We have to find out what the hell did this to him! It's the only thing that we can do! I can't treat something when I don't know what it is. All I can do is treat the symptoms, and you see how well that's going. I can't treat low blood pressure for long."

"Okay… okay." Poison leaned against the wall of his home and looked up at the sun hanging high in the sky. He had to take in this new information with a clear head, which was easier said than done, since it felt like some kind of small alien creature was trying to dig its way out through his ear. The sun blinded his eyes, causing colorful spots to appear in his vision. He closed his eyes and sat trying to think, watching the colorful spots fading against the darkness. It wasn't Jet-Star's fault this was happening, so it'd be unfair to lash out at him. All he could do was wait it out and keep trying to find the source of his brother's mysterious illness. "I know you're doing everything you can Jet-Star. I appreciate all the work you've done to keep him alive over the last few days. I'm trying to get to the bottom of this so just keep buying me time and … keep me updated okay?"

"Of course, I want you to know everything that happens with your brother's condition. I won't sugarcoat a thing." Jet-Star was analyzing the way that Party Poison was handling the situation. He'd expected him to lash out, even take a swing at him and order him to figure it out and save his brother. He hadn't. And this concerned Jet-Star greatly. Perhaps Party Poison was having some kind of mental break. "Are you okay Poison? You're not acting like yourself. I know a lot's happened…"

"Yeah… yeah I'm just trying not to fly off the handle. It's a lot of information to receive at once."

"That's what I'm concerned about. Remember what used to happen when you bottled shit up?"

"No, no… I'm not bottling it." Poison shook his head in objection. "If I punch the wall my arm is going to fucking collapse like a fucking accordion so… I have to try and think before I act, okay? Trust me, it's a struggle."

"Okay…" Jet-Star looked worried still, but took what his friend said to heart. He'd keep an eye on Poison regardless. The last thing the Killjoys needed now was for their leader to relapse back into his old habits in a time of crisis. "You sure you don't want to talk about it? This Kobra Kid thing?"

"I want a fucking shower. That's what I really want." Poison nodded resolutely. "Thanks Jet-Star… for keeping me updated."

"Right. You're welcome." Jet-Star smiled and then turned to leave but turned on his toes after a moment. "Oh, one more thing: who wrapped your arm? It looks great." Jet-Star was hoping to give one of his men kudos for what they'd done so efficiently.

"Oh… yeah, um, that was Fire Frenzy actually." Poison looked down at the bandages on his arm and half smiled. He couldn't see any blood leaking through the gauze. She really had done an excellent job and he'd barely thanked her for going out of her way to fix it. Instead he'd nearly humped her leg then rejected her at the last minute. _God I'm a dick. I guess I owe her gratitude and an apology._

"Oh… well, she did a good job. She'd make a good nurse if she wasn't so off the wall." Jet-Star smiled, debating whether or not he should mention what was on his mind and decided to go for it. "What's going on with her, anyway?"

"She's a nut job." Poison knew what Jet-Star was asking but chose to avoid the question and reflect her mental state.

"Well, I could maybe help her with that."

"What?" Poison wasn't expecting a serious response.

"If she's struggling with some kind of mental illness and you were, you know… _worried_ for her then I could lend my services. I'm not really a shrink or anything but I'm sure I could look into what it involves and do my best."

"You'd do that?" Poison wasn't sure whether or not he should be grateful.

"Of course I could. I mean… that's if you want to get her help and see her happy…"

"You're prying now." Poison smiled after a moment, realizing that Jet-Star was disguising his questions about his feelings with concern for Frenzy's health.

"Yeah, we're all kind of curious. Everyone's too scared of you both to ask."

"Look, we'll talk about this later. Right now it's the last thing on my mind." Poison lied and turned back to the door. Jet-Star watched his friend as he messed with his red hair and knew he was lying but didn't push the subject.

"Of course, the offer isn't going anywhere. I'm going to go check on Kobra Kid." Jet-Star turned and headed back toward the infirmary. Poison walked into his home and closed the door behind him. How was it that he'd just woken up and already so much had happened? He still had no idea where Fire Frenzy was, but he couldn't afford to abandon his responsibilities and go after her. He had to figure out what step to take next, first and foremost.

"But before that? A shower." An hour later Poison was showered, dressed, and feeling considerably better than he had before he'd done so. He'd covered his wound with plastic to keep it from getting soaked and it seemed to have done the job.

He walked outside of his home and through the camp in search of one person in particular. He found Tiger Beatdown sitting at the abandoned remains of the campfire from the day before, joined by Agent Alpaca, Disco Bitch and Detonation Punx.

"Hey." Poison grabbed Tiger's shoulder and stepped around the log on the ground that Tiger was seated on then sat on the opposite side of his friend.

"I've been wondering when you'd come and find me." Tiger half smiled. "I think Agent Alpaca has something he'd like to say to you."

"Oh fuck you, Tiger." Alpaca rolled his eyes. He'd been meaning to apologize to Party Poison for all of the grief that he'd caused him in the last few days, but he hadn't wanted to do it this way. Really, he didn't want to apologize at all, but after having attacked him the way he had in the second zone, he figured it was the very least he could do.

"Apology accepted." Poison held up his had to deflate the situation before it started. _If they think I care for something as petty as an apology right now then maybe they all need a bit of a wakeup call. I'd forgotten that Alpaca had even been a dick until Tiger just brought it up._ Tiger looked surprised and exchanged confused glances with Alpaca before looking back to Party Poison. "The Dracs are dead."

"What?" The group chorused in unison, though Disco Bitch had thrown in a few profanities along with her query.

"The Dracs we captured in the raid. They're dead." The group relaxed as he said this, all except for Detonation Punx who continued to look tense.

"Fuck Poison, I thought that you meant the Dracs as a whole." Disco was tapping her leg nervously on the other side of Tiger Beatdown.

"Really? What the hell would make you think that? How many Dracs are there in comparison to us? Jeez."

"You didn't specify!" Alpaca spat in annoyance. "Obviously we all jumped to the same conclusion."

"Have you _all_ forgotten what the fuck happened the other day? Have you all forgotten the _hell_ we went through to get this place back? Did you forget about the Dracs that had tricked Phoenix Fury and his men into believing that I was a traitor? Or did you suddenly stop thinking about what the hell comes next when we got the camp back?"

"It's not like that at all." Tiger shook his head, trying to sound reasonable. Poison was obviously having some kind of rage issue he wasn't sharing with the others.

"Isn't it? Everyone's celebrating like we won something! We didn't win shit! We fucking lost the integrity of the Killjoys and had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get something back! We forgot what the hell we were about to begin with and that's why the rebels were able to take over. If we would work together the way that we claimed we wanted to instead of spreading rumors, someone would've come and _talked_ to me about it and it would've been discovered that we'd been infiltrated a lot earlier! Now here we are falling back into old habits, not even two days later!" Poison scolded them all. Punx looked near tears and was desperately trying to bite them back. _Good. They should be upset. This is fucking serious._

"Listen Poison, we all have a lot on our minds. We know what happened was really bad but if we don't celebrate the small shit, then we'd never celebrate at all." Tiger reasoned with him. "We're not being neglectful, we're being optimistic."

"I knew what you were talking about when you said the Dracs were dead. I didn't jump to conclusions" Detonation Punx chimed in after Tiger had spoken, having taken a moment to gather her thoughts and steady her voice. "The Dracs we captured… they're dead?"

"Yes, they killed themselves overnight."

"How the hell did they manage that?" Disco looked enraged. The Dracs hadn't deserved to die that easily, they'd deserved to see their deeds come unraveled.

"Well apparently our guard is still not as efficient as I had hoped it would be. They'd hidden some drugs on their person and killed themselves with it while no one was looking. They did it right under our noses. That means the Killjoys assigned to guard the cell? They must not have turned to look inside a single time."

"They were our only lead!" Tiger looked exasperated at the news. "Now what do we do?"

"We're fucked, that's what!" Alpaca threw his fur lined gloves to the ground out of frustration and pushed his hair out of his face, holding it in that position and resting his elbows on his knees.

"No, we're not. Well, not completely." Poison sighed, folding his arms across his chest. "We continue on. I'm not sure what to do about the Dracs right now, but I do know a few things we can do to get started. I need some time to think up a proper course of action for the rest of it." Poison stood up, feeling too restless to stay seated. "We need to start making a plan of attack for the western camp. I think that if they've gotten wind of what's happened here then whatever Dracs may have infiltrated Phoenix Fury's crew over there may try to make a power play. I don't want to see his men die because of the Dracs' lies"

"Rainbow Riot is still here. I'm sure that Tiger could give her the lay of the land over there in the west and then they could come up with a plan of action to try and take it back." Disco suggested, finally managing to find her words through the rage she'd felt upon hearing the Dracs had gotten out of their punishment so easily.

"That's an excellent idea." Tiger smiled brightly at the woman seated next to him.

"That's not all I'd like to do." Poison kept his arms over his chest and contemplated the events that had taken place over the past few days. "Jet-Star had gone out days ago to meet up with Captain Phantom. She'd sent me a message telling me she had information she wanted to deliver. It was really short notice, so I sent Jet-Star in my stead since I had demolition related plans that night." Poison tapped his fingers against his arm. He'd been relieved to find that the use of his right arm was increasing with each passing hour now that it had been properly cared for.

"You didn't mention that before." Disco said quietly, looking surprised. "Jet-Star was attacked by Killjoys that afternoon. Do you think Captain Phantom was trying to set you up?" Disco grimaced. If Captain Phantom was behind what had been happening with the rebels then they were _all_ fucked. She and her twin brother Commander Cutlass and their able bodied crew were a force to be reckoned with. They'd always sided with the Killjoys before this and were even relatively close friends with Party Poison and Kobra Kid, but at this point no one could be trusted.

"No, I don't think that Phantom turned on us." Poison shook his head. The woman he was referring to headed her own pirate-like crew of men and women who would scour the desert to steal weapons, ammunition, food, supplies, and vehicles for the Killjoys, which Poison would trade similar goods in return for. "I do think that someone intercepted the message she sent to me. I think we need to consider sending a team to her home in the second zone and trying to find out what happened that day." _Phantom and Cutlass wouldn't turn on me. They hate Better Living just as much as I do._

"Excellent idea." Agent Alpaca perked up. It had seemed hopeless for a few moments when they'd lost their only lead. He'd have to _really_ apologize to Party Poison later. The man was a good leader and he'd found hope for them when they'd thought they had none and had even come up with a course of action to take when the rest of them were sitting around scratching their heads.

"That's it then. Disco, go find Rainbow Riot and have her meet with Tiger Beatdown and Agent Alpaca. They can plan out something for the western zone. I'd like to take it down as non-violently as possible. I'm going to talk to Fun Ghoul about what to do with the Captain Phantom situation, but before I send someone I think we should get a more detailed account of what happened that day from Jet-Star."

"That's it?" Detonation Punx looked confused and distressed. "That's your plan? There's nothing else?"

"Yes, why? What do you think it's lacking? I'm always open to suggestions." Poison could see the pain in her expression.

"The Dracs probably knew what was happening to Kobra Kid. How are we supposed to save him now that they're dead?" Her voice cracked and she hardened her upset features to keep from breaking down.

"I haven't figured that out yet… but believe me, I'm trying." Poison looked reassuringly at the girl who merely hung her head and nodded, clearly too emotional to respond properly. He didn't know what had been going on between her and Kobra Kid but he could understand how she was feeling.

"Party Poison?" The entire group turned around to look at the source of his name being called. Fire Frenzy, looking considerably better than she had since Disco had last seen her, was watching Poison, seemingly unaware that the others were staring at her. They all looked surprised to see her calling on him.

"Yeah?" Poison was surprised to see her seeking him out for once, as well. _Uh oh, something's wrong. This isn't like her. God I'm tired of this feeling of dread today has frequented._ Despite his conviction that something was wrong with her he was also relieved to see her. He had been afraid that she'd run out on him during the night and he'd never see her again.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Frenzy gave the others a look that clearly told them this was none of their business and if they made a joke about it she'd rearrange their faces, then looked back to Poison hopefully.

"Yeah, of course Frenzy…" Poison turned back to the group gathered around the ashes of the extinguished campfire. "Excuse me, you guys. Get started without me okay? I'll be coming to check on the progress in a few minutes." The others murmured their acceptance of the situation, seeming reluctant to be left out of the conversation to come. Poison walked the few feet to where Frenzy was standing waiting for him, since she didn't seem willing to come closer to him. "What is it?"

"Not here…" Frenzy gestured to those sitting a few feet from them. She didn't want anyone else to hear what she was going to tell him.

"Oh, in private? I'm not going to just jump on you out here, you know. I'm not that kind of guy."

"If you're going to be an ass, I'm going to just forget it." Frenzy looked at him seriously, which scared Poison a little. The last time she'd looked at him seriously she'd been pointing a ray gun at him in the second zone and threatening his life.

"Right this way then." He put his hand on her arm and guided her through the camp until he'd reached his home once again. He was surprised she hadn't made an effort to pull away as she had every other time he'd tried to touch her. He stood next to the building in the shade it provided and turned back to her. "Where'd you go last night?"

"I wasn't tired." Frenzy lied, not wanting to get into the complicated explanation of what had actually happened when she'd lost her mind the night before. Luckily, in the hours that had passed afterward, she'd managed to locate it and straighten it out.

"So you just left me hanging? You could've just hung out in my house. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper, it wouldn't have bothered me."

"This isn't what I wanted to talk to you about." Frenzy sighed, losing her nerve with each word he spoke.

"Well, it's what I've wanted to talk about all morning. You could've at least told me that you were going to leave… so I wouldn't wake up alone and half naked, feeling like a cheap whore! Or you could've left me a note."

"In that case, I'd like my money back."

"Oh shit, you do have a sense of humor. I wouldn't have guessed." Poison couldn't help but smile at her response. "Look, about what I did… you know, when I stopped. I could tell that you were upset-"

"I have some things that I need to tell you before you ruin my mood." Frenzy interrupted. Poison mentally deflated. He'd had this speech in his mind that he'd been working on for her all day. He'd wanted to tell her why he'd done what he did and let her know that what was going on between the two of them was more than another night he'd have to steal a trophy for. He wanted to tell her he was scared that what was going on in her mind was going to kill her. Here Frenzy was though, stealing his thunder and making some of her own.

"Okay, go ahead. We _will_ talk about this later though. I'm not just going to let it go so easily." Poison cradled his wounded arm. He'd have to remember to get a sling for it before the end of the day. Gravity was doing a number on the pain he was feeling and his fingers were feeling stiff and numb.

"As much as I'd like to keep denying it, over the last few days, I've had some feelings."

"You know, people feel things. It's totally normal. You didn't have to pull me away from the others just to tell me that." _God, I really can't stop myself can I? I didn't even think about that before I said it. _Poison winced at the response he knew was coming, already formulating how to stop her from getting frustrated with him.

"Would you shut up so I can talk?"

"What kind of feelings?"

"Just some feelings. I'm not going to get into specifics. They're unpleasant ones at that and they all revolve around you, it seems."

"I think you're just being mean to me now." Poison pouted his bottom lip out comically, hoping to lighten the mood. _I have a rotten feeling about this. Humor as a defense mechanism; God maybe having shrinks added to our arsenal of Killjoys here isn't such a terrible idea._

"Just shut up." Frenzy let out a frustrated breath and then continued. "No matter what you could tell me or what you could make me feel Poison… when I close my eyes, even around you, I can't forget them. My mind won't let me." Poison didn't bother responding to her this time, merely listened. The seriousness of the conversation finally hit him. "I'll never forget the faces of those kids covered in ash from the fires or… or glass from the explosions, hell… covered in the flesh of their best friends after the Dracs raided the streets of the city in the middle of the night." Frenzy looked at his feet as to avoid looking at his hazel eyes, which she mentally cursed again. "I'll never forget the guns they sold to kill them and the bombs they built to destroy them and the drugs they used to change them no matter what happens here." Poison wanted to know what else she'd say. She looked lost in thought, maybe in memories of something she hadn't told him yet. When had she seen these kids maimed like that, other than the ones she'd found dead and buried in her yard? This was the most she'd ever talked to him about her life before and he wasn't about to stop her.

"Do you know why I love fire so much?" Frenzy looked up at him after a moment of awkward silence between the two of them. She could see the confusion and curiosity in his eyes. Poison didn't vocally respond but instead shook his head. He was afraid that whatever he said would ruin this moment. He couldn't see anything in her blue eyes, and it scared the hell out of him. "Because fire… it's the only pure thing left in this world. No matter how terrible… how hopeless the rest of the world seems, the fire… the fire is always there to comfort me. No matter what happens, it's always going to burn and it's always going to light the way." Frenzy smiled and rubbed her fingers over the lighter in her hand. "In a way, it fixes every little problem I have without even trying."

"Frenzy…" Poison cleared his throat. He didn't understand what she was talking about or what she was trying to tell him. She'd made this all sound so important he'd half expected her to make a real confession. Part of him had expected her to tell him that she had fallen madly in love with him and he was a little disappointed that the fantasy of that in his head was just that: a fantasy."Would you stop speaking in riddles and just tell me what you're trying to say?" Poison was suddenly reminded of Jet-Star's offer to take a look at her and to see if he could help her find some clarity in her thoughts. He wanted to know why she was like this. Poison ached to know what had so deteriorated her mental state. If someone was responsible for the way things were in her mind, he'd give them hell. "Tell me what you want to say. Please don't make me guess. I'm really bad at guessing and I just piss you off." Poison wanted to grab her hands and pull her close but she was giving him vibes that kept him from doing so. Instead he shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked up some dust with his feet.

"I'm trying to tell you that the only hope for me… is you." Frenzy opened her mouth to continue but Poison interrupted.

"You're the only hope for me too." Poison jumped as he heard the words, speaking over her in hopes of making her confession seem less awkward.

"Alone." Frenzy clarified, trying to ignore what he'd just told her. Poison had nearly jumped for joy for a small second but it had all come crashing in front of his face with that one word. _Alone? What did she mean alone? What? Why did I say that? Fuck, this isn't happening again._

"What?" Poison managed to say stupidly. Any other words he wanted to add to it weren't coherent in his mind.

"The only hope for me is for you to continue this alone."

"I don't understand…" Poison furrowed his brow. "After all we've been through, you really think that's the answer? How thick are you? I mean, really… I know you're fucked up, but this…"

"It's the only way that I'm going to do what I need to do, Poison." Frenzy was avoiding eye contact again. _Does she feel guilty? Does she want me to chase her? What should I do? I can't make her stay with me if she doesn't want to, but is this what she really wants? Or is this what she feels like she has to do?_ "The only way for me to continue with my work is to be far, far away from you." Poison was freezing up. He wanted to say something to change her mind and in the same breath he wanted to tell her to go to hell. Either way, he could feel a rotten pain in his chest, growing with each moment. He rubbed the spot beneath his dog tags and went to speak. Only the angry words were making their way to the surface, the sentimental ones being buried.

"You think…"

"I'm sorry." Frenzy could tell he was hurting from his reaction. She hated that he'd gotten attached to her. She should've warned him from the beginning that she should've been treated like she had the plague, kept at arm's length at all times. _I'm hurting too._ _No, I'm not hurting. He means nothing to me. He was a distraction and now we're getting back to the real work. Well, then why do you suddenly feel so empty and cold?_ Frenzy shook off the thoughts, flicked her lighter as she stared and then turned away from Party Poison. It was now or never. She had to leave without looking back or she wouldn't leave at all and she was sure she'd die if she stayed. _Your turn will come. Don't worry._

Party Poison stood, frozen in his spot, staring at where Fire Frenzy had been only a moment ago. He wanted to go after her and show her she was wrong, but if she wanted to leave, then who the hell was he to stop her? If she didn't want him, then why the hell did he bother wasting his time with her at all? He'd been willing to change and throw away his old life for her and she wasn't even willing to try to follow her heart. He stood there thinking, his eyes fixed on the spot where the woman who'd broken his heart once stood. He leaned down to touch her footprints and slammed his fist into the ground, his chest aching in ways he couldn't describe.


	21. The Only Hope For Me Is You

Party Poison paced in the alleyway outside of his home, trudging his feet through the dirt but careful to avoid the spot where Fire Frenzy had stood. What kind of sick game was she trying to play with him now? Was she trying to drive him mad? _That's it. She wants me to be as loony as she is, that's when I'll be good enough. She just wants someone to understand what being a lunatic is like, right?_ He shook the thought from his head, writing it off as irrational, and placed each hand on either side of his head, gripping at the red hair there. He ignored the pain in his arm as he gripped harder, pulling his hair. He very suddenly turned to slam his fist into the wall, feeling the stucco scrape against his knuckles. The pain that rushed through his arm made him buckle for a second, but it ultimately didn't stop him from continuing. He punched the wall again with his left hand, then his right again, yelling out of anger, frustration, and just a little bit of pain.

"Poison!" He heard Cosmic Karma, but ignored her cries and slammed his fist against the wall once again. His vision blurred and stung but he couldn't figure out exactly why. _I'm not getting emotional, it must be the fucking pain._ "Poison, stop it!" Karma tried to grab Party Poison by the back of his tattered blue jacket to stop him, but stumbled backward as he pushed her away from him, turning to swing at her. Luckily she'd been far enough that the blow hadn't been anywhere near her and he merely stumbled from the force of the would-be blow. He stood there breathing heavily upon realizing he hadn't been doing so properly since he started swinging. "What the hell is wrong with you? What's going on?"

"None of your fucking business!" Poison yelled after a moment. He was sure it was unnecessary to yell, but he couldn't help it. Stomping away, he left the red, white, and blue haired woman to wonder in the alleyway next to his home. He hurried inside, trying to find something to soothe the frustration he felt. His lip curled in an annoyed snarl and he flipped the table in the center of the room. Picking up the chair, he slammed it into the wall, breaking the back of it. He felt the blood trickling down his arm from the wound he'd suffered a few days prior, but ignored the fact that it must have pulled open again. The pain was distracting him from the situation. He had to get rid of this ache in his chest somehow.

"Fucking bitch!" He cursed, throwing over a heavy filing cabinet, using his left arm to brace himself against the wall. The cabinet fell with a crash and papers scattered onto the floor. His arm was throbbing and aching, his head was pounding and his vision skewed. Leaning against the wall, Poison closed his eyes. His fingers were twitching involuntarily from the pain signals his nerves were sending through his arm. The thudding in his heart was akin to akin to him run a marathon. The abuse he'd done to the inanimate objects in his house had done nothing to ease the pulsing frustration in his mind as he had hoped it would.

"Party Poison? Are you okay?" Poison could hear Jet-Star calling through the front door of his home. _Karma must have gotten him to come check on me. I can't blame her. I'm a mess._ Poison didn't respond and walked to his bedroom. The darkness in the room soothed his thoughts a little bit and at least kept him from destroying anymore of his furniture. He heard his front door open and knew that if he didn't think fast he'd have to explain what the hell had happened with Fire Frenzy to Jet-Star.

No part of him wanted to talk; he wanted to smack Fire Frenzy in the face and tell her what an idiot she was, not talk about his feelings. He wanted to kick the shit out of the guard that had neglected to look at the Dracs even once during his watch. He wanted to shake some life back into his brother. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs and let out some of this pent up anger but knew none of his wants would come to fruition.

"He's in here…" Karma whispered from the front room. He could see the shadows of them in his doorway but ignored them, hoping that if he didn't acknowledge them then they'd go away, even though he knew better.

"Poison, what the hell happened to you? What's going on?" Jet-Star stepped into the room, concern written on his face. "Your house is ransacked! What the fuck did you do? Is everything okay?"

Poison didn't respond but instead got up from where he had sat down on the edge of his bed. He shoved past Cosmic Karma and Jet-Star and out the front door of his home. He knew that Jet-Star would follow him but he wouldn't let him catch up and he wouldn't offer any kind of explanation to him. The only thing he could think to do was to get his thoughts out before he lost his mind. He'd do the only thing he knew how to do in situations like this, when he couldn't get his emotions in order. _Not that I've ever had a situation quite like this_ _before_. He could hear Jet-Star calling to him as he walked through the camp but continued to ignore him.

The watering hole frequented by the Killjoys was located at the southernmost end of the camp. It was mostly abandoned at this time of the day being usually only used for announcements made to the entire camp or when The Mad Gear and Missile Kid would play to entertain them. It'd been so long since the old stage was used that the pieced together amplifiers, lovingly called "Frankenstein Amps", were gathering dust. There were a few Killjoys sitting and solemnly enjoying a cold drink while talking in the shadows of the bar, but not more than a handful. The only other person of note was sitting on the edge of the stage, strumming an electric guitar with little to no sound coming out of it. Fun Ghoul looked up at him as Party Poison jumped onto the stage and started flipping switches to turn things on.

"What are you doing?" Fun Ghoul smiled at his friend, looking weary, plucking a few strings on the old Gibson in his lap. Poison wondered, momentarily, if Fun Ghoul had slept at all the night before.

"Can you just… play with me? Improvise okay? I've got some new shit I want to try." Poison asked, digging through a pile of wires in the corner, searching for something. His right hand was trembling with annoying pain.

"Anything in particular?"

"No, just make it slow and angry." Poison hummed a few bars of the lyrics in his mind as an example and Fun Ghoul nodded to let him know he'd gotten it. Fun Ghoul jumped onto the stage and strapped the electric guitar around his shoulder and plugged in all the necessary wires. He made sure the guitar was in tune then started to play until Poison gave him a signal of approval. Whatever Party Poison was going to do here on this stage seemed important enough for Fun Ghoul to oblige. It had been awhile since he'd gotten to play anyway, so it was a good excuse to do so.

Poison cleared his throat, swallowing the nerves that always came when singing in front of people, and tried to find the words in his head. The thoughts were moving so fast that he had to try and slow them down to make them coherent enough to share. Fun Ghoul watched him curiously as he continued to play the riff that Poison had hummed to him only a moment prior. He repeated it until Poison finally jumped in.

_ "Remember me…" _Poison said in a low voice, practically whispering into the microphone. He wanted it to sound like an echo, but he wasn't patient enough to achieve the effect. Why he chose those words, he had no idea. He just knew that it was what he needed to say. He repeated them several times to himself.

_ "Where, where will we stand when all the lights go out, across these city streets?" _Party Poison turned away from the nearly empty bar to face the amplifiers and empty drum set then slipped his eyes closed, tapping his foot to the beat in his head. Fun Ghoul was finding the transitions in the song as well as was expected in the situation that Poison had thrown him into without warning._  
><em>

* * *

><p>Fire Frenzy had walked out of the main gates of the Killjoys camp in the third zone and through the desert without looking back. Part of her knew she would run back to the camp and chicken out if she glanced back at what she was leaving behind. She'd heard yelling and talking as she'd left, some people had even stopped to ask her what had happened, but she'd ignored them all. If she responded to any of them or had become curious, it'd be another unnecessary distraction. She was halfway to the fourth zone now and to her bunker.<p>

She'd take what she needed from her home and then she'd be on her way. The further from the camp she got, the less she felt like her manic self. She'd always been out of her mind, but never as badly as she had been in the past few days. Something was missing after all of that struggle, despite her finally being free of her distractions. _Maybe you're just sad? Maybe you miss them? Miss him? I'm not sad. I'll miss the chase though, that's for sure. I'll forget about them all before I know it. I'll have a whole new adventure on my hands._

Shaking off the voices in her head, Fire Frenzy trudged through the desert, forcing her thoughts away from the conversation she'd had with Party Poison and the hurt she'd inflicted. Never having been good with emotional conflict, Frenzy was reeling in the guilt she felt. She'd tried her best to remain neutral for so many years, but found herself siding with the Killjoys enough to want to run back to them after having spent so many days trying to redeem their leader. She resisted the urge, the throbbing of the infection in her leg reminding her of what she needed to do.

* * *

><p><em>"Where were you when all of the embers fell?" <em>Poison remembered the conversation they had outside of his home. She'd revealed so much to him, but still so little. What had it meant? What had she seen? What horrors had she witnessed if she'd witnessed any at all? Maybe it was all some big charade and he was the only one falling for it.

* * *

><p>Through the desert and the wind, in the scorching sun, she managed to get back to her bunker without once glancing back at the camp in the east, even though she knew it was well out of sight by now. Even the small steel structure she'd turned to for solace in the past looked lonely. The last time she'd seen it, she'd been with a group of people collecting supplies for the battle against the rebels to take back the eastern camp. Now it was lonely and empty, the graveyard she so cherished visible barely on the horizon, only adding to the emptiness that hung in the air. Hanging her head low and staring at the shapes in the sand, she walked into the bunker.<p>

Through the mess of what remained on the floor of her stockpile of weapons, she stepped to the wall with the hidden door on it. None of the Killjoys she'd brought with her had noticed it, and if they had, they hadn't asked about it annoyingly the way Poison had. Pushing the door open she walked inside and grabbed the pictures of the orphans from where they hung on the wall. They'd hide inside the hidden pocket in her corset along the seam and she then pocketed the remainder of the pills she'd stolen from Party Poison the night when they'd first met. She left the empty bottle on the desk.

She grabbed a small dagger from the shelf nearest the secret door in the main room and slipped it into her boot to replace the one she'd lost the day before in the zones with Party Poison. An involuntary smile slipped on her lips from the memory of the things that had happened that day. At first, it'd plagued her that she let it happen at all, but as time passed, it'd become a fond recurrence. She shook off the memory and refilled her lighter with the butane it required to keep burning. The last thing she needed was for it to run out while she was in the City.

She recharged her ray gun and refilled the tank of her flamethrower, then wiped off the scuff marks from the battle she'd been a part of. Her wounds were healing well now, and her determination was renewed as she holstered the weapons. She walked back into the desert and found her motorcycle parked behind her bunker where she'd left it. Climbing onto the seat, she revved the engine to life. It wouldn't take her long to get to the City from here on a motorcycle. She took one last look at her bunker, blew it a kiss goodbye and rode the motorcycle toward the buildings hidden in the California haze in the distance. It'd take her nearly the rest of the day, but it'd be well worth the drive.

* * *

><p><em>"I still remember them covered in ash, covered in glass, covered in all my friends." <em>The words slipped from Poison's lips like honey, thick with emotion and dripping over the entire room._ "I still, think of the bombs they built."_

* * *

><p>Vengeful Venom had been hiding for days inside of the tent he'd been allowed to sleep in with Rainbow Riot. He was sitting outside of it now, just contemplating what had happened in the past and what the Dracs were plotting against them now. What horrors would lay ahead for them in the future? What move would they make now that the Killjoys had thwarted their plan? He'd overheard people talking about the ones they'd captured having killed themselves. He had wanted a word with them. He'd wanted to tell them that life didn't have to be that way, but they'd died. The blood on his hands was dripping now. If he'd just kept his head low then they wouldn't have been drugged the way they were now.<p>

Rainbow Riot walked up to the tent and saw Venom looking solemn again, which didn't surprise her. _He's been staring like that for days. I can't get him to talk. I know he spoke to Agent Alpaca a few times, but about what? Whatever it was, it couldn't be the source of this rotten mood._ She cautiously approached where he sat. He heard her coming, but didn't respond. They'd spent so much time together that he could discern her footfalls from anyone else's. She stood in front of him and watched him for a moment, choosing her words wisely. What could he be thinking about? What was on his mind that was eating him up this way? She thought that now that he was finally a Killjoy he might be able to break out of this cloud that hung over his head since the moment they had met each other, but apparently she had thought wrong.

Venom looked up at the woman he was so in love with. She deserved more than he could give her. She always had, and he knew that from the moment he'd seen her making eyes at him. It hadn't been long after their meeting that they realized there could be something more than just friendship between them. Since that moment he'd thought he could redeem himself through her and their love but had soon found that it was the things he'd done in the past that he couldn't let go. It would prevent him from making a life for her the way that he had wanted to.

Riot walked behind him and slipped her arms around his shoulders in a hug. She nuzzled her head next to his and turned to give his cheek a kiss, just below the black marks under his eyes. He closed his eyes and reveled in the hug she was giving him. Even if he didn't respond, she knew he wanted to and that was enough. He gently let his hand rest on her forearm, feeling the beating of her heart through her chest against his back. He turned his head to the side and met her lips for a short moment.

* * *

><p><em>"If there's a place that I could be then I'd be another memory. Can I be the only hope for you?" <em>The microphone brushed against his lips as he held it too close. Fun Ghoul had found the beat of the song now and was starting to feel his fingers moving on their own to fill in the blanks of places he was unsure of. He leaned forward and closed his eyes, continuing to play, letting his hair hang in his face.

* * *

><p>"I love you." Rainbow Riot smiled hopefully, knowing that he felt the same way but dying to hear the words from his lips. He left his lips parted as he contemplated how to respond to her without hurting her. The last two days had let him know exactly what he had to do to win her love.<p>

"I don't deserve your love." He spoke quietly. Riot leaned her head back and made her lips thin and tight in disapproval. Every time he told her that, each time he belittled himself for whatever secrets he had or whatever horrors were in his past, it crushed her heart.

"Would you stop saying that already? I'm tired of hearing it!" Riot pulled back and stood up.

"It's the truth." Venom understood her anger and didn't bother lashing out in return. They'd had this fight a thousand times before now, it wasn't worth getting worked up over. The pain in her eyes each time was more than he could bear so he stared at the ground instead to lessen his guilt.

"I don't care about what you think you deserve, Venom! I love you! Isn't that enough? Why do you need more than that? What if I think you deserve my love already? You're a good man, that's all I could ask for!"

"I've done terrible things, things you can't even imagine, Riot. This… all of this that's happening now, it's my fault! People are suffering because of me!" Venom tried to get her to understand but he knew she never would. He'd never be able to live with himself until he set the things from his past right. It was more than just being a Drac for years, far more. Those creatures he'd allowed to live when he left the labs so many years ago, they were going to kill them all, thanks to him.

"I don't care! It doesn't matter what you think is your fault! You're doing the right thing now and that's what matters!"

"Because I'm a coward."

"You're not! Who cares if you were back then? You're allowed to be afraid, we all were at some point! You've more than redeemed yourself since then! You… I love you, doesn't it matter what I think? It doesn't matter to _me_ what you did in the past! I didn't know that man! I love this one who sits in front of me right now!"

"It matters to me, Riot." Venom stood up to be eye to eye with the woman he desperately loved. She deserved the world and he couldn't give it to her.

"Venom, enough! This has to end! There are more important things than some vendetta you're hell-bent on from years ago. You have to start living in the here and now! For both of us, you need to make a change!"

"I am living in the here and now." Venom grabbed her hands and looked into her sad, tear-filled blue eyes. "I have to make things right so that I can give you the love that you deserve." Venom let go of her hands and watched them slowly descend to her sides. He hung his head low and turned away from her. He wandered away slowly after realizing nothing he could say would change the way she felt. He couldn't make her understand. Riot placed her hands over her stomach to grip the cloth of her shirt and furrowed her brow. She was unable to fight the tears that had been threatening since he'd declined to return her affections and felt the wetness descend over her cheeks.

"Who cares what you think I deserve? You're what I want." Riot turned away and hid in her tent, not wanting anyone to see her mascara running.

* * *

><p><em>"Because you're the only hope for me. And if we can't find where we belong, we'll have to make it on our own; face all the pain and take it on, because the only hope for me is you alone." <em>Poison spat the words bitterly into the microphone and walked over to Fun Ghoul. He leaned against the man's shoulder as he played for a few bars._  
><em>

* * *

><p>Disco and Tiger walked along through the desert, making casual conversation as they did. Things had been strained between them since the night before. So much had happened that neither one cared to share that the relationship that had blossomed in the last week was beginning to wither and it scared them both.<p>

Disco wanted desperately to love Tiger but at the same time wanted to run as far away from him as she could. Disco wanted to scare him away and put a stop the relationship before he rejected her, before she'd finally managed to let her walls down and get herself so involved she would be a wreck when he left. Tiger, on the other hand, could see his future slipping away as she distanced herself. The future in his mind had become one with the future with her he pictured so vividly. He wanted a family, a life, a real life outside of BL/ind and he wanted to have it with her.

Their avoidance of the conversation that so sorely needed to happen between them only further worsened things. The longer they managed to avoid it, the harder it would be to repair the damage that was being done.

"Is that music?" Tiger stopped walking, hearing some electric guitar coming from a building a few hundred feet away. He hadn't heard a guitar on a real working amp in a long time. It was a sweet sound.

"That sounds like Fun Ghoul and Party Poison… Maybe they're having an impromptu Mad Gear session." Disco shrugged her shoulders and secretly hoped it was true. _How can they play without Kobra? He's their bassist._ She decided that it wouldn't matter and was actually relieved as they drew closer to hear Poison's voice echoing throughout the bar. She knew that he had a lot of steam to blow off and music had always been a huge outlet for him.

"Do you want to go listen in? It could be nice." Tiger Beatdown encouraged. Disco swallowed the lump in her throat. She'd avoided the bar as often as she could. With all the stress she was feeling, she could slip into old habits to avoid dealing with it. One drink would calm her nerves and two would lead to three. She looked over at Tiger, who was curious to see what she would answer. _Is this a test? Wait, he doesn't know it's a bar, it couldn't be a test._

"Sure, we can go listen." She agreed, against her better judgment.

"Let's go." Disco and Tiger walked into the bar and pulled up two seats at a table. The Killjoy who ran the bar came over to them. She offered them each a drink to which they both declined. Tiger Beatdown wanted one but he remembered Disco's story of how she had escaped alcoholism. She looked uncomfortable even being in the bar and he wondered if it had been a mistake to bring her inside.

* * *

><p><em>"How it should be? Many years after the disasters that we've seen. What have we learned? Other than people burn in purifying flame."<em> Poison didn't notice people were starting to gather to watch. Neither did Fun Ghoul. Whatever anger and frustration Poison had brought with him, Fun Ghoul was feeding off of it and expelling his own demons in the process. He ducked away from Poison and crouched onto his knees, strumming the guitar with all the passion he could muster._  
><em>

* * *

><p>"Poison's pretty good. So is Fun Ghoul. I've never seen them play before." Tiger whispered, watching as Party Poison sang with his back to them, walking back and forth across the stage, the wire for the red and yellow microphone wrapped around his arm and his neck. He seemed angry, hurt.<p>

"I've never heard this song before." Disco whispered, staring at the bartender as she poured a beer from the tap. Her mouth suddenly felt dry and her tongue felt like it was swelling to fill her whole mouth. What she'd give for just one drop of alcohol on her tongue. The taste hadn't even been what she desired, but she could go for it right now. She wanted the warmth of it burning her throat all the way down to her insides, filling her with that careless and reckless abandon she so desired to feel once again. It'd been so long, but apparently not long enough to lose the temptation it offered.

"Maybe it's a new song."

"Sure sounds like it." Disco was speaking quietly, sounding almost bitter in her words. Tiger slipped his arm over her shoulder and urged her to lean closer to him. She stiffened up at the contact but didn't make an effort to pull away. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the words that Poison was singing but all she could hear was the sloshing of the liquid inside of the cups that the other people gathered to watch were consuming. She'd never felt this tempted, not since the day she'd kicked the habit entirely.

"What's wrong?" Tiger whispered in her ear, his lips giving her chills all the way down her spine as they brushed against her. She shivered and shrugged her shoulders in response. Now wasn't the time to talk about it. With her luck, she'd burst into an angry fit of some kind and disturb whatever cathartic experience Party Poison was having up on stage. "You can talk to me Disco… About anything."

* * *

><p><em>"I say it's okay. I know you can tell and though you can see me smile I still think of the guns they sell." <em>The words hit Poison hard. Maybe she'd been hiding something he hadn't seen. Maybe he'd even ignored it. He knew she had secrets about her past but maybe there was more to her burning the numbers in her legs. Maybe there was more hidden behind the mask she wore and he didn't mean that lacy red and black one she had to hide her identity. He grabbed the wire wrapped around his arm and snapped it away, spinning it off of him as he sang._  
><em>

* * *

><p>"I don't want to talk about it."<p>

"Come on, if you bottle it up then it's just going to eat you alive…" Tiger whispered, tucking some of her multicolored hair behind her ear. Maybe if he pushed her a little bit she'd tell him what was on her mind.

"I said there's nothing to talk about."

"No, you said you didn't want to talk about it. Which is it? You don't want to talk about it or there's nothing to talk about? You can't have both."

"I just don't want to get into it. I want to listen to the song. I don't want to interrupt Party Poison."

"I want to listen in too, but I think what's going on here, between us, is more important."

"You want to know what the hell I'm thinking about? You really want to know what's bothering me?" Disco hissed at him. Tiger pulled his arm from her around her shoulder, surprised at the way she'd lashed out at him. He'd never seen her this angry before, at least not toward him. Sure, she'd been nasty to Agent Alpaca, but even that had never seemed as venomous.

"Yeah, I do! You're acting like you've got these big secrets that are burdening you and when someone finally offers to help, you get defensive and make excuses to run as far as you can! Part of me thinks you like playing the damn martyr."

"Oh yeah? That's what I do, is it?"

"Yeah it is! You're being a coward, Disco, and that's not the woman I know. You have these issues that are bothering you so damn much and you're acting like no one gives a shit. Well, here I am. Giving a shit. Okay? Talk to me! Tell me what the hell happened and how I can help you!" Tiger hissed angrily. He made sure not to raise his voice. He didn't want to interrupt Poison, though from the looks of it, it seemed as though Party Poison had no idea anyone else was even listening to him sing.

"Fine, fine… You know what I'm thinking about?" For half a second Disco Bitch contemplated telling him she was tempted by the alcohol all around her but instead she lied. _Well, it's only half lying._ "It's this relationship, okay?"

"What do you mean it's _this relationship_?" Tiger looked frustrated and annoyed. Finally an answer from her, and it'd been too vague!

"You know damn well what I mean Tiger." Disco scooted her chair back and waited for Tiger to respond. He wasn't sure what she meant. Maybe she felt things falling apart too and that's what she was referring to. Or maybe it was the sudden wall that had been built between them. Maybe she had her own doubts and maybe she sensed his. It could've been any number of things. He turned to look away from her, unsure of what words to use.

Disco shook her head in dismay and pushed her chair back. She didn't bother with words and walked out of the bar, to clear her head before she said something she regretted.

* * *

><p><em>"If there's a place that I could be then I'd be another memory." <em>Poison didn't want this to just be a memory he'd regret for the rest of his life. He leaned hunched forward, practically yelling the words into the microphone as Fun Ghoul played next to him.

* * *

><p>Rainbow Riot had cleaned up her makeup and put on her big girl pants to go and chase down Vengeful Venom. She was going to get this resolved once and for all. It was time for them to both grow up and deal with this like adults. She had to stop keeping secrets from him if she expected him to stop keeping secrets from her. She'd find a way to help him cope with what he'd done in his past, but he had to let her do it or they'd never make it.<p>

She found him gathering supplies in one of the storehouses on the eastern side of the camp, near one of the guard towers. She walked up to him and grabbed his arm. Venom turned and looked at her expectantly. He'd always managed to know when she was coming, even when she had been sneaking up on him.

"We need to talk."

"I thought we already talked." Venom muttered under his breath. He wasn't angry. He knew what he had to do now. He had enough of seeing the disappointment and hurt in her eyes and he was going to set things straight. The problem was, if he told her what he planned to do, she would never let him do it. Or worse, she'd insist on helping him, and he couldn't put her in that kind of danger.

"I talked, and you said the same things you always did! You're out of your mind if you think that I'm going to let this go! I told you, I don't know the man you used to be when you were a Drac, but I know the man you are here and now! You're sweet, kind, brave, caring, loving, funny, and strong as hell! I don't get why you won't just see that the way that I see it! You've done more good in your new life than you ever did wrong in your old life as a Drac. These two lives you lived? They're the same, and you've more than redeemed yourself!"

"I haven't! I've done things that you have no idea about!"

"Because you never tell me anything!" Riot yelled. People were stopping to watch them yelling at each other out of curiosity. "Tell me! What is it that you did that's so bad? Why won't you just tell me what the hell happened? We could figure out a way to fix it together! You don't have to do everything alone you know!"

"I can't get you involved. It's too dangerous! I could never endanger your life. You're worth so much more than this."

"Endanger my life? Our lives are endangered every single day out here in the zones! We are a dying species, Venom! All of us! Those of us with free will are going instinct, and you're sitting here wasting your days moping about something that's over and done with! When you see an opportunity for love and happiness you should take it because none of us know how much time we have left!"

* * *

><p><em>"Can I be the only hope for you? Because you're the only hope for me." <em>He knew it was all true at this point. The words had written themselves, as they always had, and as he heard them screaming through the old speakers amongst the feedback, he knew he had to take action. The image of her walking away plagued him each time he closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>"This is far from <em>done with<em>, Riot. It's happening right in front of us every single day!"

"I don't care! Venom, I don't care what you did! Hell, I don't care who you killed, or what torture you may have done, what crimes you may have committed! I love you! I love you no matter what you did in your past and nothing could change that!" Riot couldn't help but cry anymore. _Damnit, why do I always cry? I want to be strong but there's so much bottled up_. _Crying is the only way I have to let any of it out._ Vengeful Venom immediately felt guilty upon seeing the tears streaming down her face.

"Riot, I'm sorry but… If I can't live with myself, then how could you? I have to be okay with myself before I can be okay with you."

"I can help you… just don't go. I know you're going to try to leave. Stay with me and we can figure this out together! I'm sure whatever it is, the Killjoys will help us figure it out… Party Poison said he could help us, remember? You're a Killjoy now!"

"Riot, I…" Venom hesitated. He had to leave this place. He had to do this for her. The tears staining her cheeks- he couldn't be responsible for them anymore. He had to redeem himself for her and for himself. He couldn't love her, not until he loved himself. He'd figured that out the hard way over the years.

"Please, Venom..." Riot stepped closer to him and tugged on the collar of his coat, hoping to coax him into finally seeing things her way.

"I'll stay." Venom nodded his head and put his hand on the side of her neck, playing with the loose strands of hair falling from her buns on the back of her head. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you." Riot kissed him and he returned the affection. The people watching them had begun to disperse now that they realized they didn't have to intervene at all. Venom wrapped his arms around Riot and pulled her close, feeling the warm tears staining his shirt. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. He'd make everything right, even if it killed him. She deserved the life of a queen and he'd fight to give it to her. Even if she didn't forgive him for what he needed to do, at least he would've made the world a safe place for her to live in.

* * *

><p><em>"And if we can't find where we belong, we'll have to make it on our own - face all the pain and take it on." <em>He stared out finally at the crowd that had gathered and were jamming to the song. None of them knew the meaning behind the song but seemed to be finding their own. This was part of why he loved music. He could touch the lives of those around him without even trying.

* * *

><p>Tiger Beatdown had sat watching Party Poison sing for about twenty seconds longer before he'd left the bar to search for Disco Bitch. He hadn't meant to hesitate the way that he had. He should've told her that he didn't understand. He should've told her his fears. Maybe if he was honest with her, she'd be honest with him about what was going on in the confines of her mind. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to start a romance in the middle of a war torn world, but when else would they have had the chance? He was a firm believer i56 chasing your emotions instead of stifling them.<p>

He ran through the camp, stopping every few moments to ask people if they'd seen Disco. Thankfully people knew her here so when they'd seen her they would point him in the right direction. He found her standing at the main entrance in the west, staring out at the mirage of water in the distance that was a constant in the desert.

"What do you want from me, Disco?" Tiger asked, stepping in her line of sight so she was forced to look at him. She did so but didn't respond immediately. He hadn't meant it to sound as frustrated as it had. He was honest about his words. Whatever she wanted from him, he would give it to her because he wanted to make things work.

"I don't know what I want from you Tiger." Disco finally managed to mutter after some thought. "Maybe that's the problem. I don't know what I want from you." She hung her head, avoiding looking into his eyes. He stood his ground and straightened his back. He would help her find out what she wanted and he'd make it happen.

"I know what I want." Tiger took a deep breath. "After this is all straightened out here in the east and we can go back to work as usual… I want you to come back with me to the west. I want you to live with me, I want us to work together and have a life."

"You're hot and cold, Tiger." Disco accused.

"What does that mean?"

"You show me affection when you want to and then you avoid conflict with me like the plague! Stop saying what you think I want to hear and say what you want to say! I'm not into playing these stupid games with anyone!"

"I'm not playing games with you!"

"Well, what is it then? Tell me what you want! Tell me what you're really feeling! I know you're mad at me. I know you're scared, like I am. I don't need some big strong man to shoulder all my troubles and tell me it's alright! I'm a big girl and I can handle myself just fine without yours or anyone's help!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't have to! It's okay to ask for help!"

* * *

><p><em>"Because the only hope for me is you alone." <em>Poison could be what she needed if she would only let him.

* * *

><p>"Just tell me what <em>you<em> want! I told you I don't know, so tell me… which is it Tiger? Do you want me to come back to the west with you? Do you really want to be with me or do you want to be with the idea of me that you have in your head?"

Tiger stood there with his mouth agape. _How could she think that I'm holding her on some pedestal in my head? Did Agent Alpaca plant that idea in her head? Maybe I am a little bit. But there's no way I could know if I don't try._ Tiger shook his head and looked down into the dirt beneath his feet. He had no answer for her, and left her hanging once again. Maybe things wouldn't work out as he had hoped. Maybe they weren't meant to be. Maybe the fated things he'd felt earlier had all been in the heat of the moment and the fear of the situation as Agent Alpaca had warned him they'd be.

"That's what I thought." Disco didn't want him to see the aching she felt when he hadn't responded. She'd thought maybe he'd really known what he wanted so at least one of them would have their head on straight, but he hadn't.

"Disco…" Tiger Beatdown swallowed the lump in his throat but the rest of the words he had for her got stuck in his throat on the way out. He wanted to tell her it wasn't like that. Maybe he didn't know what he wanted, but he was more than happy to work with her to find out.

"I need to think." Disco walked past him and into the desert outside of the camp. Tiger Beatdown contemplated following her but he stood there in the gateway just watching her as her form faded into the sands. If she needed some time to think and blow off steam he'd give it to her, but when she came back, they'd figure it out. He wasn't going to let these doubts be the end of them, not that easily.

* * *

><p><em>"The only hope for me…" <em>He sang out of breath, watching as Fun Ghoul played his guitar to the lyrics he sang._ "The only hope for me is you, the only hope for me is you, the only hope…" _Poison continued to sing the lyrics, swaying back and forth, holding the microphone up. Now that he knew what it all meant, now that he'd calmed down through the music, he had to decide what to do.

_ "If there's a place that I could be, then I'd be another memory." He couldn't just let this go.  
>"Can I be the only hope for you?" <em>He knew she could take care of herself, but her life was hollow. He could see it.  
><em> "Because you're the only hope for me." <em>His own life had been hollow; he'd replaced one addiction with another, and it'd taken a lunatic to show him that._  
>"And if we can't find where we belong we'll have to make it on our own - face all the pain and take it on." <em>He didn't want to do it alone anymore. He was tired of being the rock everyone relied on to fix everything. He needed to do something for his own sanity. Maybe he'd been the crazy one and she'd been the only one to see the world for what it was._  
>"Because the only hope for me is you alone." <em>He tasted the words on his lips and knew he had to go tell her._ "The only hope for me is you…"_

* * *

><p>Poison felt the words choking him as he repeated the last words she said to him before walking away. He missed her. He didn't want her to leave. He had to make her stay. She had been wrong. The only hope for Fire Frenzy was Party Poison, and it didn't have anything to do with being alone. He'd make her see that if it was the last thing he did. Without finishing the last line of the song he dropped the microphone which howled with feedback as it rolled too close to the amplifier.<p>

_Where could she be? She would've gone to the armory first. It hasn't been that long, I might still have time._ Party Poison ran through the camp, pushing past people and ignoring the pain in his arm that felt renewed after dropping the microphone. He burst into the armory, expecting to find her hunched over some weapon.

"Don't go Frenzy, stay with me!" He yelled without even checking to see if she was still there. When he received no response he walked further into the armory, past the rows of scrap metal and weaponry. There was no one there. There was nothing at all, except for some welded together weapons and scrap metal. She'd been there, but probably not recently.

"Fuck." He was too late. She was gone, and he was too late.


	22. Vampires Don't Exist

Disco hadn't bothered returning to the camp that night after her walk. As the sun began to rise in the east she had no intentions of turning around. She had nothing new to say to Tiger Beatdown and she was sure that all anyone would do when she got back was pry into her business. As much as she loved Rainbow Riot and the bond they'd formed in the last few days, she didn't really want her optimistic opinion on the matter.

Tiger hadn't been able to answer the most important question she'd asked him and though she knew that it hadn't been a fair question exactly, it still made her question his motives. The last thing she wanted was to return to the camp and hear him babble over an apology. The worst part was that Disco Bitch knew if she listened to him begging for forgiveness she'd give into him. An apology was what she _wanted_ to hear from him. If he could just make it all seem okay for a few seconds she would give in. She knew an apology was like putting a band-aid on something that needed a tourniquet. _Maybe the fact that I want him to make it right for us so badly is enough. If I want this that much then why am I fighting it so hard? God I'm an idiot._

Disco kicked at the dirt in front of her aimlessly and decided to turn back around and head home. She'd traveled far enough into the east that she was going to start breathing dangerous air soon if she wasn't careful about it. She gazed back toward the camp, which had faded from view the night before. It would be half a day's walk to get back there if she kept at her slow pace. She could cut it down to a few hours if she hurried.

Instead of hurrying, Disco Bitch chose to take a break, and sat down in the dirt. She adjusted the mask on her face, which she'd put there during the night, and took a drink of the bottle of water she had taken with her on her trek. Thinking had actually done her some good for once. Usually when she sat and thought about her situation, her mind would sabotage itself and she'd end up making a thousand bad decisions.

"If I'm going to get through this stupid thing, I need to tell Tiger Beatdown what's really going on in my head." Disco laid back in the sand and looked up at the hazy California sun. She was still struggling with alcohol abuse many years after she'd given it up. _How pathetic am I?_ Shame flooded through her and settled in her stomach as hard as a rock. She'd never wanted to give up the alcohol in the first place; she'd only done so because she was forced to. Maybe now that she really didn't want to be dependent on it anymore, the habit would be gone for good.

A smile eventually found its way contently to her lips. Maybe that's why the situation with Tiger had been so stressful. She'd told him the story of how she'd become a Killjoy but she hadn't shared how the temptation to drink still overcame her nearly every single night. True recovery from addiction would mean she wouldn't be tempted to fall back into her old life. Though it was uncommon for true recovery to come for anyone suffering from some kind of addiction, she was hoping that with Tiger's help she could find it.

When she got back to the camp, she would get herself cleaned up, clear her thoughts for a little and then she'd find Tiger and tell him what she needed from him. He had been right about a few things he'd brought up during their fight in the bar. She was afraid to let herself be happy. For once she had something more than a fight on her hands and she was terrified of letting herself find some romance and happiness. The bottom line was: she was afraid to fall in love and not have it end up in flames. She'd created a ton of conflict in her mind to keep herself from being happy and she refused to let it get the best of her this time.

It had never occurred to her that despite Tiger Beatdown's wish for normalcy and his dream of hope and a future with a family, maybe he had also been afraid of letting her in too. She had never considered that this was just as hard for him as it was for her. They had both spent so much time fighting against the Dracs and Better Living that falling in love and getting used to a life that was more than fighting and killing was as terrifying as the fight itself. In some ways it was even scarier than fighting the Dracs.

If she could share her fears with Tiger and just tell him what seemed so easy to admit out here in the desert then perhaps there was hope for them yet. When they'd taken back the camp and the awkwardness had settled into their relationship, she had realized how scared she was to become the woman he wanted her to be. But who was to say that was the case at all? Sitting here alone in the sun, lying on the sand and staring into the sky, she realized she didn't have to become anyone else for him; she was already the woman he wanted. Being in a relationship didn't mean she had to change her whole world.

Perhaps writing her thoughts down would be easier on her. If anyone would understand how hard it was for her to share these very personal things, it would be Tiger Beatdown. She could picture it now. He'd probably even find the fact that she'd taken the time to write it down romantic. It was possible he'd even find it endearing that she so struggled with the conflict.

That was all she needed to convince herself to start the trek back to the eastern camp. Her courage may start to wane after a few hours of walking through the sand, but if nothing else, she knew she'd be able to build it back up with some time to herself. She was strong enough to realize it out in the desert; she was certainly strong enough to do it again in a place she actually felt comfortable in.

Getting to her feet, Disco wiped the sand from her hands and her legs. Shaking out her jacket to rid herself of sand, she turned around to face the camp and started to trudge her way through the desert. After a few moments of walking her feet struck something metallic and hard beneath the sand unexpectedly. She stepped again and heard the sound a second time, echoing beneath her feet. Disco froze, looked confused by the sound. She looked all around her for the source. Perhaps she'd kick some kind of scrap metal; that wasn't uncommon in the desert. There was no scrap metal anywhere around her and the sound had echoed like it was hollow, scrap metal wouldn't sound like that.

She leaned closer down to the ground to get a better look, eventually crouching and searching for the source. Whatever she'd hit sounded big and empty. She adjusted her footing and heard the metallic echoing again beneath her feet. She got on her knees and quickly started to push the sand to the side. There was some kind of door beneath her feet, or a hatch; or so it appeared. She wasn't sure which. Continuing to push the dirt out of the way, she uncovered a bit of yellow paint on the door. She brushed her fingers over the mark and saw that it was the letter "A" written in yellow spray paint.

"What the fuck?" Disco Bitch muttered, confused. She continued to push the sand away, searching for more of the lettering. She found the left seam of the hatch and continued to the right. It took her ten minutes to uncover the entire door but as she did she was astonished at what she found. On the ground in front of her was the entrance to some kind of underground facility, or at least that was her best guess. She couldn't exactly be sure by sight alone.

She remembered the Dracs she and Agent Alpaca had encountered in the desert a few days prior when they had been searching for reinforcements and how Korse had headed further out into the zones rather than back toward Battery City. Was it possible that this was where they were hiding? Was there a secret Better Living Industries facility hiding beneath their feet this whole time? If that were the case then why hadn't they taken action when they heard the takeover of the eastern camp?

"A-WEB." She read the lettering on the doors and scowled. What did it mean? Did it stand for something or was there a web of facilities underneath that none of them knew about? She couldn't help but be reminded of an old video game that had an underground facility owned by an evil corporation who had been secretly manufacturing a virus to reanimate corpses. What if there was some facility like that beneath there? As highly unlikely as it was, she couldn't risk going into some Raccoon City Hive-like facility on her own. She knew that leaving it now could mean she'd lose the location in the sand, but she had to go and tell Party Poison what she'd discovered.

Walking around the door to avoid making any more noise on top of it, she hurried toward the eastern Killjoy camp. The sickening sound of creaking metal was the last thing she heard before a dull pain in her head short circuited her vision. The world around her began to spin and as she felt her coordination failing her. Everything started to fade in front of her like a scene from a movie and as the nausea flooded through her, her vision went black.

* * *

><p>Rainbow Riot rolled onto her back, waking up after a night of tossing and turning and nightmares. She'd had so much on her mind that her rest had been riddled with the conflicting thoughts from the arguments she'd had with Vengeful Venom. She rolled over to confide her worries in him and found he wasn't there. The place where he had been laying when she'd fallen asleep the night before was empty and cold. She patted down the blankets as if to see if maybe he had just disguised himself, even though the idea was absurd. She lifted his blankets and found nothing there beneath them.<p>

Her heart was racing and her pulse was pounding in her ears. _Maybe he's just gone out to get something to eat. Or maybe he's gone to have a cigarette. He probably just didn't want to disturb me. Then why am I panicking like this?_ She got up carefully and got dressed in a hurry. As she slipped on her shirt and straightened it out something caught her eye. Lying on the pillow that she had just gotten up from was a piece of paper. She must have missed it or had been lying on it so she hadn't noticed that it was there. It was slightly crunched up from how she'd been squishing it during her slumber, but she could clearly see her name written on the cover.

Riot hesitated to pick up the letter, knowing it only contained bad news. If it had been something easy for Vengeful Venom to tell her, he wouldn't have gone through the trouble of writing a letter at all. He would've just woken her up and told her what was troubling him as he often did after a night of contemplation.

"He promised me…" She whispered, knowing that whatever he'd said to her the night before had been a lie to appease her. He had just wanted to get her to stop crying as he always had. She thought for once things were finally different. It had been hard for her to lay it all on the line like she'd done. She'd risked losing him in that conversation the night before, only to find out that him finally making some progress was all another lie.

Riot opened the letter and stared at the familiar chicken scratch handwriting.

_My dearest Rainbow Riot,_

_ I know you're going to be incredibly mad at me when you find out that I've left you. As I lay here and watch you sleeping so restlessly, I know that you deserve more than what I can give you. I know you tell me all the time that you want me just the way that I am but it's something I can't live with. I respect that about you though; that you could love someone like me despite the things I've done with my past. You've continued to be the only person I've ever been able to trust and you always will be no matter what happens from here. _

_ That's the reason I can't keep lying to you about what I've seen. When I was running from those labs all those years ago, I found these people lying in test tubes. There were three of them, two boys and a girl. They were half-maimed and hooked up to thousands of wires. I was curious and thought I had some time so I tried to find out what they were. Their tubes read: Instigate Obliterate and Destroy. They're monsters, super weapons created by Better Living to replace the Scarecrow Unit. I stood there and did nothing about them even though I knew I could pull the plugs and kill them before the experiment was completed. I knew they'd come to kill us all eventually but I was too scared to let Better Living know where I was in the building so I let them live. Pulling the wires meant painting a target on my back._

_ I relive that moment every night of my life. I heard Party Poison and Fire Frenzy talking about the IOD Project being tested in the City. I know where the tests had taken place back then and though I doubt it's in the same place. I have to try. So I'm going back there to do what I should've done all those years ago._

_ I'll come back to you when I'm a man worthy of your love. Don't follow me, don't mourn for me just take care of yourself._

_ I know you've been dying to hear it, but I hope this will do. I'm sorry I'm not man enough to say it out loud._

_ I love you._

_Vengeful Venom_

Riot held the letter close to her chest and cried. There wasn't much else she could do but hold onto this little bit of Vengeful Venom she had left. He was running headfirst toward the barrel of a gun and if he came back to her, she'd be lucky. It was more likely that the last time she'd see him was the night before and she'd never gotten to tell him what she was hiding from him.

"I can't let him do this." Rainbow Riot got to her feet, folded up the letter and ran out of the tent, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She didn't care if anyone saw her crying. She had to find someone and tell them what was going on and try to decide how to save the man she loved. Venom was a Killjoy now. Surely they'd want to send someone after him to keep him from doing something stupid.

"Whoa! Whoa, Rainbow Riot! What's wrong?" Black Cherrybomb stopped the girl who was in tears. There was nothing that Cherrybomb hated more than seeing a beautiful woman in tears. She nearly tripped because of how quickly she stopped running. He jumped back in surprise as she grabbed his arms, still in tears.

"You have to help him!"

"What? Help who?" Cherrybomb looked alarmed and quickly looked around to see if there was anyone else around who could hear her plea. He didn't have much sway with the Killjoys at this point since he was still a mercenary, plus he had no idea what was going on.

"Vengeful Venom!"

"The Drac?"

"Ex-Drac! He's a Killjoy! Is that _really _that important right now?" Riot shouted in annoyance, shoving Cherrybomb away from her. "Where is Party Poison? He'll help me. Poison! Where are you?" She yelled through the camp, walking a bit away from Black Cherrybomb and surveying the people meandering past.

"Calm down, let's find him together! I didn't mean to offend you okay? What's wrong with Venom? Is he sick or something?"

"No!" Riot narrowed her eyes at Black Cherrybomb then took a deep breath and hung her head. "I'm sorry." She hadn't meant to take her frustrations out on the man in the black cat suit but he'd unfortunately been the victim of her anger and worry. "I didn't mean to sound so nasty."

"What's going on?" Tiger Beatdown approached, having heard the yelling. _What could be happening now? These past few days have been too fucking dramatic. _

"Tiger, have you seen Poison around? Something's going on with Vengeful Venom. He's in some kind of trouble." Black Cherrybomb spoke for Rainbow Riot who was sobbing against a piece of paper she'd crumbled in her hand.

"I'm right here." Party Poison approached the group. He looked like hadn't slept in days and held a cup of coffee in his right hand. He'd been walking around for hours, just talking to the Killjoys left in the camp and straightening out the confusion from the days prior. "What's wrong Riot?"

"I woke up… and Vengeful Venom was gone!" Riot managed to speak through her sobbing.

"What? Maybe he's just gone out for a smoke or something." Tiger suggested. He'd remembered seeing the man go for a smoke with Agent Alpaca a few days prior.

"No! God, do you think I'd be crying over that? I would've checked first before coming to you anyway!" Riot shot him an angry glance.

"Calm down, Riot… We're just trying to help you. Snapping at us is just going to piss us off." Poison offered her a comforting hand on her shoulder then took a long drink out of the cardboard coffee cup he held.

"Look! Just… Just read it! I'm a mess and I'll just fuck it up if I try to explain!" Riot shoved the piece of paper toward Party Poison who carefully opened it out of the crumpled mess that she's crushed it into.

His eyes skimmed the paper as he read over the note. Black Cherrybomb and Tiger Beatdown read along as well over Poison's shoulder. Poison could see why she was upset and worried but he wasn't sure what he could do for her. If Vengeful Venom was going to run to the Dracs, he couldn't exactly stop him. Half his men were injured and sending them into danger was a stupid and careless idea. He'd decided not to send someone after Fire Frenzy the night before and he'd decide the same for Venom. This whole information about the IOD project worried him, but he knew that Vengeful Venom had made the best decision he could've when running away. Who was to say that any one of them would've done anything different? If Venom had destroyed IOD he would've died.

"You really think he's gone to the City on his own?" Tiger Beatdown asked after having finished reading the letter.

"Of course he did!" Riot shouted out of frustration. "He's been talking about redeeming himself for years! He's finally doing it! Or at least he's going to get himself killed trying to do it! I can't let him do this!" Riot felt cold very suddenly and folded her arms over her chest to try and warm herself. The relief of warmth would never come to her. The chill flooding through her was no more physical than her fear was.

"Look, let's give him a day. We're injured and falling apart here. I can't trust these Killjoys to go out on a mission yet and I'm not sending you out there hysterical. If he's really running to the Dracs then sending anyone after him is suicide. Give him a chance to find that out for himself." Poison spoke, choosing his words wisely in hopes of not further upsetting this woman.

"I'm not a Killjoy, you can't tell me what to do." Rainbow Riot whispered under her breath.

"Like hell I can't." Poison furrowed his brow. "You're as much of a Killjoy as the rest of us. God, you people and standing on your own. You fight against Better Living? That makes you a Killjoy as far as I'm concerned. Hell, you're probably more of a Killjoy than the rest of the people here who sign up for the glory of it. I'm not going to let you get yourself killed running after someone who made a stupid decision. You need to take a step back and gain some perspective on the situation. Vengeful Venom has been trying to get this through to you for years, it seems. He wants to go and redeem himself so you have to let him go and take his chance. Yeah, it's fucking stupid, but he has to realize that on his own. You can't make people change because you want them to. If you go stop him now, he'll resent you for it."

"But Poison…" Riot objected.

"He's right." Black Cherrybomb shrugged his shoulders, surprised by Party Poison's logical argument. "Look, I'll personally go with you to look for him if he's not back in a couple of days. I know that you're worried, but he's obviously worried for you too. I know you want to run to his rescue, but give him a chance to prove himself. This is what _he_ wants." Riot hung her head after snatching the letter back from Party Poison. It was the last thing she had from him and she didn't want to forget it. Maybe they were right after all. No matter what she'd said to Vengeful Venom over the years he'd never been able to see any truth in it for himself. Maybe it was time for her to let him figure it out on his own.

"You promise that you'll come with me if he doesn't come back in a few days?" Rainbow Riot whispered after a moment of quiet contemplation. Her tears were finally drying up even if she felt like she could cry an entire river. She had to keep living her life, even with the man she loved gone.

"I promise." Cherrybomb offered her a gentle and reassuring smile. Usually he wouldn't help a pretty woman like her find a man to distract her from what they could be, but he didn't like to interfere with real love either. He'd found himself living to a far higher moral standard in the last few days, so this didn't surprise him all that much.

"Thank you so much." Riot felt exhausted, emotionally and physically.

"Look, why don't you go get something to eat in the mess hall? Have some food then take it easy for the rest of the day. Tiger Beatdown and Agent Alpaca still need to talk to you about the western zone… and soon. I don't want this to go on for days. The longer we wait the more trouble it's going to be." Party Poison felt uncomfortable trying to be comforting toward this woman. Sometime between the night before and this morning he'd hit a wall of apathy toward everyone else's problems.

"Actually…" Tiger cleared his throat and looked down at his feet. "Disco Bitch is gone too."

"What?" Party Poison was starting to think he was losing his mind. _Why the hell is everyone just wandering off? Venom I get, he's got issues and well… Frenzy..._ He stopped himself before he thought about her further. He had nothing but angry things to say about the situation but couldn't help but worry. Maybe Disco Bitch had gone after Fire Frenzy though, it could be helpful to bring her up. _No, she wanted to leave so she can fucking leave and be on her own now._ Poison decided not to say anything about her leaving and instead waited for Tiger to explain further.

"She and I fought and she walked off to clear her head sometime yesterday afternoon. We were watching you play with Fun Ghoul and she marched off." Tiger Beatdown was beginning to worry now that she hadn't shown up. Agent Alpaca walked toward the group and was shushed by Black Cherrybomb as he was about to ask what was going on. Cherrybomb whispered to him and caught him up on the conversation going on so they wouldn't have to repeat themselves.

"You think she's just really upset? Maybe she came back and you didn't notice her. She doesn't seem like the type to want to be bothered when she's angry or hurt" Rainbow Riot mused. She didn't want to think about anything except for what was going on with Vengeful Venom but perhaps distraction was the best medicine for the ache in her chest.

"No, no way…" Tiger shook his head. "I would've seen her. I've been looking for her all morning."

"Well, maybe we should look around for her a bit more." Agent Alpaca suggested, trying not to act completely disinterested. He had decided to make a genuine effort with this Disco Bitch situation for Tiger's sake. He'd been wrong about Party Poison so who was to say he couldn't be wrong about Disco's intentions as well. He owed it to Tiger to at least try.

"She's not here, I'm telling you." Tiger sighed heavily. "She didn't bring any water with her out in the zones. She left angry. She should've been back by morning at the very latest."

"You're right." Party Poison sighed. "Unfortunately, you're right. We should send a few people out there to find her."

"What? You're sending someone after her but not after Venom?" Riot seemed outraged, but could understand the logic before she'd even complained.

"Yes, I'm sending someone after her because she left to clear her head without supplies of any kind. She could've passed out in the desert because she was too stubborn to head back. I'm not going to leave her to the Dracs and carrion birds out there." Poison looked to Tiger Beatdown and Agent Alpaca for guidance on the matter. "I've got too much to do, or I'd go myself."

"It's okay, we've got this." Agent Alpaca nodded his head. Tiger looked surprised by his friend's offer but didn't complain.

"I'll work on the plans for the west while you're gone and you can look them over after you get back with Disco." Rainbow Riot didn't look up at any of them again. She was resisting the urge to go running after Vengeful Venom. She had to give him the chance to come back on his own. He knew where to go to find her. Perhaps throwing herself into her work would be enough to distract her from the aching and longing she felt. Poison could tell what Rainbow Riot was thinking about. He would have to pair her with another Killjoy to make sure that she didn't run off on her own.

"Then it's decided." Poison nodded his head. He had other matters to attend to that day and couldn't head into the desert after Disco. He'd have to make some new rules after this. If people wanted to wander out of the camp in a time of crisis then they would be on their own or required to signal for help when they needed it. He couldn't keep sparing men to go on searches for strays when he needed to send someone to look for Captain Phantom as well as to the West to take back Tiger Beatdown's camp.

The group nodded and parted ways upon coming to terms with their decision. Poison walked away without looking back. He'd fallen back into the role of leader of the Killjoys, any emotional issues he was having would have to be dealt with later. He couldn't help but wonder if Disco Bitch had met up with Fire Frenzy though on her way out. It was something he'd look into if Tiger and Alpaca's search didn't turn up any results. He wanted to avoid running after the pyromaniac if he could help it.

* * *

><p>Fire Frenzy drove her motorcycle through the tunnel that led into Battery City. She paid the standard toll that the Better Living guards asked of her. These guards didn't wear vampire masks, but rather full face masks with the smiling logo on the front. They had been designed to bring comfort to the citizens of the City, but they only filled Frenzy with annoyance. It was another step made by Better Living to erase individuality from the world. The true test to whether or not she'd been made known to Better Living had come when she'd passed through the toll. If she'd been added to the Killjoys wanted list then they would've stopped her and she would've had to high tail it back into the zones. She could've gone through the outer gates but she wanted to seem as benign as possible.<p>

Fortunately she'd passed through their security with no issue whatsoever. She wouldn't usually take her motorcycle into the city with her but she needed to get around as fast as she possibly could while on this particular mission. Speed was going to be the key to her actions. The more time she took, the harder it'd be since she knew that her first actions would get her noticed by Better Living quickly. Once they realized she was an unsavory character she had about three hours before the City would be flashing her picture on the wanted billboards and plastering wanted posters all over the walls. The moment that happened she'd have nothing but a constant fight on her hands.

Frenzy drove around for an hour looking for the old theater that she'd read about in Death-iNation's letter to Party Poison. It was as good a place as any to start. She could run in, hopefully steal some information and then she could continue her search for the sleeper cell that Poison had so put his trust in. With any luck, she wouldn't be noticed until long after that.

The theater was in major disrepair. No wonder people thought the place was haunted and were spreading rumors of vampires and ghosts. The windows were boarded up and the front doors were covered with caution tape warning people to stay out. Frenzy checked her gun to make sure it was still there and ready. She left her flame thrower on the motorcycle; it'd draw too much attention to her.

Frenzy walked around to the side of the building in search of an entrance. Going through the front door was too obvious, plus she'd have to break the tape to get inside which would only leave evidence of her escapades. She found a side door and broke the knob off after a few tugs. Luckily even the doors were in disrepair and the handle was rusted and loose to begin with. She reached inside, disabled the lock and crept into the building, closing the door silently behind her. The room she'd gone into was dark except for the glowing bracelet she still wore that Rainbow Riot had given to her days ago for the battle.

She held her arm up and looked around at the unmarked boxes scattered on the floor. She didn't bother checking their contents since they didn't look like they'd been touched in years. It was likely this had been a storage room for the theater when it had actually functioned as such. Frenzy was prepared to find that most of the theater would appear as nothing but. What she was looking for wouldn't be obvious but she guessed it wouldn't be hard to find either. The trouble Better Living had gone through to spread vampire rumors about the theater and ghosts haunting it on top of making it look condemned were likely more than enough to keep most people out of it. As she looked around now, she could see nothing inside the building that warranted it being closed down.

The sound of her boots on the floor beneath her echoed hauntingly through the main entry hall of the theater. There was an abandoned concession stand in the center and ticket booths all along the front end and at either side near the front doors. Old faded movie posters were hanging on the wall, covered in dust and cobwebs. Frenzy looked around carefully, taking note of anything out of the ordinary. The doors to the theaters didn't look like they'd been recently used; in fact a majority of them were blocked with stacked up boxes or chairs. She decided to skip the theaters altogether and check them on her way out.

The Dracs were notorious for hiding things on different "levels", at least in Frenzy's experience. Every facility she'd ever broken into nothing of interest had ever been on the main level. She'd always had to go into the basement or the second floor to find anything good. Her guess was that the things she wanted to find were going to be downstairs rather than up in this particular place. From outside she couldn't see much of a second floor and guessed it would only house old projectors. Frenzy walked through the back hall of the theater, trying to make as little sound with her boots as she could which wasn't easy on the filthy and broken tile.

She pushed open doors that weren't boarded up cautiously and looked inside the rooms, finding each empty until she found a poorly lit staircase. _Predictable, as always, aren't they? Fucking Dracs, if they don't want to get caught then don't do the same shit over and over. Isn't that the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?_ Frenzy descended the stairs carefully and walked through the dark hallway at the bottom of it. She'd decided to start from the back and make her way forward and back to the staircase.

The first two rooms were filled with disabled computer equipment and empty beds covered in dust. Someone had been staying here and working here but it looked as though they had long gone. Maybe she'd come too late and the facility had already been closed down. It was likely that someone had noticed Death-iNation delivering letters to the Killjoys after some time. It was possible they'd even intercepted a few of the later ones what with the lack of security amongst the Killjoys organization. They'd know that the theater would be a target for the Killjoys if they'd figured out how to read Death-iNation's secret code.

The third door proved more fruitful but in a way that Frenzy had hoped it wouldn't be. Her stomach churned and she closed the door, leaning her forehead against it and swallowing the urge to vomit. She closed her eyes and took slow deep breaths to calm herself. She instantly reached for her lighter and gave it a few flicks.

There were tables inside, surgical looking ones and they had been lined up across the room in rows of ten. They'd all been covered in the bodies of children, as far as Frenzy could see. She didn't have enough film for this room or enough skin on her leg to commemorate them if they were as dead as they looked. _They still deserve to be remembered. I'll have to find something better._

"Fuck, fuck…" Frenzy muttered under her breath. She couldn't leave without checking them all. She'd have to make sure they were dead and if they weren't she'd have to find a way to wake them up and save them. She stared at the door for a long moment before mustering up her courage and pushing it open again. The room looked like it had once been white, clean and sterile but now half the lights on the ceiling were flickering hauntingly or were already dead while the white sheets covering the bodies of the forty or so children were covered in a thin layer of dust and spots of some kind of fluid she didn't investigate further. Each child was attached to a series of wires hooked up to mechanical looking objects hanging from the ceiling which Frenzy didn't recognize.

_What the hell were they doing with these kids? Whatever it was, it doesn't seem to have worked. Just like Better Living to leave their failures to rot. They're just orphans, who the hell would care if they didn't receive a proper burial? I care. Fuck these assholes, I'll save you all._

Frenzy walked over to the body of a small boy at the far end of the room. She crouched down and gently brushed his blond bangs from his forehead. He looked peaceful and asleep and she could only hope and pray to a God she didn't believe in that they were maybe still alive. Her fingers crept to the boy's neck and searched desperately for a pulse but she found none. She lifted the boy's eyelids and found a dead cold iris staring back at her. She pushed herself back and away from the gurney with the little boy on top of it and found herself caught on the wires of another child behind her.

_Oh God, they're everywhere! _Frenzy worked with shaking hands to get her arms untangled from the wires. She fell to the ground in her panic and scooted backwards until she hit a cabinet at the far end of the room. Her breath was catching in her throat, which seemed to be growing tighter and closing with every moment that passed. Her heart was racing and her head spinning and the panic of being surrounded by corpses of children, possibly orphaned children, was setting in.

It didn't matter if they were dead. They didn't deserve to spend the rest of their days lying on cold barren metal tables until they rotted into nothing but bones. Frenzy jumped to her feet and pulled the knife from where she kept it in her boot. She quickly began cutting the wires from the ceiling, watching as sparks flew from the edge of the wires, making the machines in the ceiling start to smoke. The risk of being electrocuted never crossed her mind as she continued on, destroying as many wires as she could.

She had a sick feeling that the machines were waiting for the kids to come back to life and turn into something else. She wouldn't let that happen. These kids had died a terrible death they hadn't deserved and she wouldn't let Better Living desecrate their memories further by abusing what was left of their bodies.

Frenzy slipped the lighter into her left hand and flicked it again to comfort her. Her lungs weren't getting enough air thanks to the panic attack. She needed to calm down to be able to handle this situation with a clear head. There was no way she could save all of these kids, not now. She stopped slicing at the wires finally, standing in the center of the room, listening to the crackling of the wires. This had been stupid. If a machine had been monitoring the kids, surely they'd notice the malfunction.

Frenzy held her voice to listen. There were voices in the hallway she'd come from. Frenzy held the flame in front of her and looked toward the door, waiting for more of the sounds. They didn't sound like Dracs to her, but like something much different. The voices were female and sounded hushed and nervous. They sounded young and scared.

Frenzy walked slowly toward the door and pushed it open a crack to listen better.

"This way, we have to get out of here before they notice we left…" The voice of a little girl whispered, sounding strangely confident but also nervous.

"But they'll be waiting." Another little girl responded. _Oh God, they're trying to escape. How did they survive whatever killed these kids?_ _Only one way to find out, I suppose._ Frenzy pushed the door open and was met with half a scream from one of the girls before the third one had placed her hand over her mouth to keep the sound from echoing.

"I told you that they'd find us! I told you this was stupid!" The blond little girl squealed in misery. The red headed girl in the back who had screamed had begun to cry and mutter something about not wanting to die. The girl in front with curly brown hair that seemed almost like an afro was trying to look strong but Frenzy could see the fear in her eyes. For some reason this little girl reminded her of Jet-Star in appearance and she partially wondered if there was some familial connection between them.

"Stop crying!" The little girl in front stood proudly and stared at Frenzy's hand. "I won't let you take them back down there!" She threatened and though her stature stated she was going to stand her ground, Frenzy was sure if she moved the wrong way the girl would crumble and burst into tears. She couldn't blame her, if the roles were reversed she'd be terrified too.

"What?" Frenzy realized very suddenly she was still brandishing her knife and then shook her head in dismay. _Of course she thinks you're going to hurt her, idiot. You probably look like a monster from a fucking horror movie._ She slipped the knife away into her boot once again and leaned down to better speak to the young girls, resting a hand on her knee. "I'm not one of them." The three girls looked skeptical and the two in back dried their tears up the best that they could. "My name is Fire Frenzy. I'm not working for Better Living Industries."

"She's a killjoy!" The blond girl in the back whispered, looking hopeful. She was surprised to feel the girl wrap her arms around her in a hug. The red head followed suit. "I'm Camille, this is Andrea and Grace." The blond looked up at her and gave her a smile. "Are you here to save us?"

"I'm not a Killjoy." Frenzy knelt down after prying the little arms off of her torso. "I heard that something was going on down here and came to investigate. I'll get you out of here."

"How do you plan on doing that, huh? Those monsters are upstairs and they see everything that goes on down here." Grace looked defensive and wary of the woman, less afraid now that she had put away the knife.

"I'm not afraid of monsters." Frenzy smiled reassuringly, which was something she rarely did. She had a soft spot for kids and this Grace girl reminded her of herself when she had been young.

"You should be." Andrea spoke quietly and averted her eyes. "They killed all our friends."

"Well they won't kill you. Not as long as I'm still alive. I won't let them." Frenzy narrowed her eyes. "Come on, there's no more time to waste. Are there others down here who need help?"

"Yes, there are a lot of them." Grace spoke up. "But we can't get them out of here all at once. I woke up my friends and we're leaving here now. Once I get away I'm going to find the Killjoys. They'll help us save the rest."

"You're right. They will and I can bring you to them." Frenzy whispered. "But for now, we have to get out of here as quickly as possible. If you say they're watching us then we don't have much time. You three stay behind me… If there are monsters let them come." Frenzy stood back up. The little girls didn't have much of a choice other than to trust Fire Frenzy. They may not have said it, but she could tell they were relieved to have someone older taking care of them, particularly someone with a gun. They crept through the hallway, Frenzy checking ahead and behind every few seconds. She pocketed the lighter, since it was doing nothing but distracting her from the task at hand. These little girls were far more important than her obsession with fire.

She had all the distraction from her madness that she needed trailing behind her as close as they could without getting stepped on by the older woman. The group walked up the stairs and carefully through the main room of the theater. Frenzy would take them out the front door and lead them away. She couldn't take them all on her motorcycle so her best bet was to try to sneak through the fences with them.

The tension was thick as they reached the glass doors at the front of the theater. Frenzy unlocked the door from the inside, tore the caution tape out front and held the door open for the little girls.

"Hurry." She whispered as she ushered them outside.

"And where do you think you're going?" Frenzy turned to face the voice that called to them from the other end of the theater. A man dressed in a black old-fashioned suit that looked like it'd been torn apart then sewn and strapped back together was walking calmly toward them. He held something shimmering in his hand that she couldn't quite make out and he cocked his head to the side in an odd manner, as though he couldn't keep it upright properly on his own. His skin was pale and nearly colorless as though no blood coursed through his veins. Frenzy stepped forward and urged the girls to stand behind her and out of sight. If he was going to attack them, Frenzy would distract him long enough to let the girls run to safety.

"…go to the third zone in the east, that's where the Killjoys set up camp. Ask for Party Poison." Frenzy leaned close as if to comfort the girls and whispered to them her instructions. She hoped they were smart enough to run away while they had the chance. Frenzy turned back to look at the man who was much closer to them than when she had turned. She carefully backed up, forcing the kids to stand in the doorway. They seemed stuck in place with fear.

"I asked you a question. It's rude not to answer a question when you are _asked_." The young man smiled, but it wasn't pleasant. He looked deranged, as though he were searching for some reason to hurt them rather than to really find out why they were there.

"I was coming inside to see if I could take my girls to see a movie." Frenzy lied after thinking up a good enough excuse. It'd only taken her a second to come up with something believable. If she hadn't been so manic, she would've considered adopting some orphans and caring for them. Since she was much less than a fit mother, it had been out of the question. "I know the place is abandoned but sometimes they keep the old reels here and the girls deserved a day out." The man seemed to contemplate her words and any truth that might be behind them. After a moment he broke into laughter and began to sing to her tauntingly.

"_Liar, liar, you fucking liar_…" He bared his teeth to reveal fangs, drool practically dripping down his chin. Frenzy instantly became defensive and adjusted her feet to prepare herself for a fight. _He looks hungry_.

"Who the hell are you to call me a liar?" Frenzy reached for her ray gun, sure this was going to come to blows sooner or later. Before she could reach for the handle he had her wrist and had tugged her close, breaching the foot or so between them. She stumbled and regained her footing quickly. _God he's fast! Holy shit. _She could hear the little girls panicking behind her but stood her ground. She wouldn't show any fear in front of these girls.

Frenzy sharply took in her breath as she felt the sharp edge of a butcher's knife grace her throat. He made it clear he wouldn't mind cutting her open and spilling her blood right there. The knife had been what she couldn't make out in his hand from afar. He'd hidden it well, considering its length.

Frenzy didn't struggle to move but didn't let down her guard either. He seemed unaware of the children behind her now, and completely fixated on the woman who wasn't cowering in fear at his feet. With any luck, while he was distracted with her, the little girls could flee to safety. She had a feeling that they wouldn't run away without her, they were too stubborn. _Stupid, they're going to get themselves killed this way. I'd do the same thing, though._

"I'm a fucking vampire." The man grinned, showing her his fangs once again. Frenzy didn't believe for a second that he was telling the truth. "I'm more than a fucking vampire, I'm the Destroyer. Who the fuck are you?" He hissed, pulling her closer, clearly trying to intimidate her but Frenzy refused to bend. She felt the blade of the knife lacerating her skin in the slightest manner, not enough to draw blood, but still enough to make her nervous.

"Vampires aren't real, dipshit. You're just some fucking genetically altered freak from the looks of it." Frenzy spat in his face, taking a chance with the knife at her throat. He hadn't been expecting her to react so boldly and his grip faltered. Frenzy took his moment of weakness as a chance and grabbed his wrist, shoving the knife toward him, managing not to scratch herself further in the process. She bent down and turned, twisting her wrist from his grasp and ran back to the girls, pulling out her ray gun in the process. "Go!" She hissed to the girls before turning to face the Destroyer who was looking as malicious as ever.

When Frenzy turned back around she found two others had joined Destroyer, similar in skin color but different in every other aspect. The woman stood tall and proud and was staring down the young man with the butcher's knife. She was wearing a Victorian dress, her hair pulled back tight into a bun. The other man wore a bowler hat and held a cane with a snake head proudly to his side. He looked disapproving at the group in front of them. _When had they gotten there?_ They had to have moved ungodly fast to get there in that short of a time. Something told Frenzy that she was in for the fight of her life.

Frenzy stumbled back as Destroyer threw himself at her but to her surprise, the man and woman who had joined him grabbed onto him and tried to keep him from reacting harshly.

"Let me go, Instigator! Let me go! Let me have her!" Destroyer tried to bite at the woman to get her to let go of him. She narrowly avoided his teeth and smacked him on the back of the head in a scolding manner.

"Get a hold of yourself. You're acting like a child." Instigator said in a flat and monotonous voice. Frenzy glanced behind her and saw that the kids were finally running far away from the theater. They'd taken the chance she'd given them and though she wasn't sure she was going to make it out as easily, at least Frenzy knew that the girls were safe for the time being.

"She's trespassing, stealing from us!" Destroyer yelled maliciously. "She lies even, she called me a freak! She told me I wasn't fucking real! Vampires _are_ real you bitch and I'm going to fucking prove it to you!"

"You _are_ a freak." The man with the bowler spoke and looked back to Fire Frenzy curiously. "What are you doing here young lady? Stealing from us as my brother says?"

"I was taking the kids to a movie. I sent them running home. This man is scaring them, waving that fucking knife around like that."

"Liar… _liar, liar_ fucking liar, you're a fucking pathetic sorry excuse for a liar, you fucking bitch." Destroyer fought against his captors but didn't manage to escape. Frenzy felt the handle of the gun in her hand becoming slippery with sweat. She wasn't going to instigate a fight if she didn't have to. If they let her walk out now she wouldn't look back until she'd gathered an army to take these assholes down.

Usually she wouldn't mind the odds of three to one in a fight but there was something supernatural about them in the way they moved and the way they acted. Frenzy had a strong feeling that they were the IOD project she'd heard about and what they were capable of was something she didn't know and scared her all in the same breath. She was guessing they were unnaturally fast and even though she was a pretty good shot, she wasn't fast enough to take them all down at one. The last major project she'd fought was Korse and he'd been as tough as they come. His only flaw was that he could fall apart. It'd always given her enough time to escape his grasp. If they were looking to replace the Scarecrow with the IOD then they had to be ungodly strong.

Destroyer managed to get a hold of his composure after a moment of quiet contemplation and straightened himself up. He seemed to know that Instigator wouldn't let him go if he didn't get a handle on his actions.

"Please, sister, please let me teach her a lesson? She needs to learn a lesson… She needs to learn that liars are punished." Destroyer was gripping at the wrists of Instigator. She wondered if they were actually related or if because they were experiments together, they'd adopted each other as family. It was sweet in a sick and terrifying sort of way and if they weren't threatening her life, she would've told them so.

"Calm yourself Destroyer." Instigator walked toward Fire Frenzy after letting go of her brother. She scrutinized the woman who stood holding the gun in her clammy hands. "You let your children just run away on their own onto the streets of a dangerous city?"

"They're waiting for me outside, down the block. I told them where to meet me. They're very smart girls." Frenzy spoke confidently, not taking her eyes off of Destroyer who scared her far more than this Instigator did.

"Just like their mother it seems. All three of those girls, each of different race and hair color, are yours?" Instigator walked around her and gave her the once over.

"I adopted them. I have a soft spot for orphans having been one myself."

"Oh believe me I have a soft spot for them too." Instigator stood back in front of Fire Frenzy, not convinced by her story. Frenzy felt a sudden rush of dizziness and pain in her head. She stumbled and hit the glass door. Instigator was doing something to her but what. It felt like someone was pushing into her skull and crushing her brain. The pain was unlike anything she'd experienced before and instantly crippled her.

"Fuck! Stop it! Get out!" She could hear the woman's voice in her head, reading her thoughts, probing her mind for the answers she sought. She cursed and grabbed at her head, trying desperately to get the pain inside of it to stop.

"You're a liar." Instigator spoke after letting up her concentration. Frenzy hadn't realized she'd fallen to her knees against the door until the pain had finally muted enough for her to see straight again. She looked up at the woman who accused her of lying and had a feeling she'd just had her thoughts read. "You're right, she's a liar Destroyer. For once, you're not out of your mind."

"You know what we do with liars." The man with the bowler hat added.

"She destroyed the labs downstairs. She was helping those kids escape, which they have now. She's sending them to see someone called… Party Poison. Do you recognize the name Obliterator?"

"Yes, I do." The man in the bowler hissed, but seemed somewhat bored by what was going on around them. Frenzy didn't understand how he could remain so casual after all he'd learned.

"She needs to be taught a lesson."

"You're not going to teach me shit." Frenzy hissed, getting back to her feet and aiming her gun at Instigator who seemed far more threatening now that she knew what she was capable of.

"Destroyer?" Instigator held her hand to the side and the younger more vicious man walked to her side.

"Yes…" He spoke as he watched Frenzy, looking eager as ever to get his hands on her.

"You can have your fun with her. You're right. Show her that vampires _do_ exist. Make her pay for what she's done." Instigator turned away from Frenzy without a second glance. Destroyer grabbed Fire Frenzy's hand as she got a shot off. She'd missed, having been nowhere near fast enough to stop the man from grabbing her.


	23. This Is Not a Test

_Where am I?_ Her thoughts echoed around in her mind, spinning in a haze. She couldn't see through the darkness behind her lids and had no strength to open them. There was a dull pounding just above her right eye and she was sure the skin there was puffy and swollen, if not bleeding. _What the hell happened to me?_ Disco Bitch reached to touch the sore spot on her head only to find her arm wasn't obeying her command. Ache recoiled down her wrists and through her muscles. Met with darkness when she opened her eyes, she blinked a few times to try and find some kind of clue to her whereabouts. _I'd been in the desert before, what the hell was I doing? _It had turned into some kind of riddle for her, whatever she had been doing in the desert before this. The pieces were all in her memory but scattered, waiting to be put back together.

Shadows materialized into objects in front of her, still far too vague for her to figure out what they were. Bile was rising in the back of her throat, created by the dizziness and nausea she felt in this unfamiliar atmosphere combined with the wound on her forehead. Gagging didn't help, in fact it only made her incredibly aware of the mask on her face. It surrounded her mouth and nose and strapped around the back of her head. She could feel it constricting her, creating a feeling of claustrophobia.

"What the hell…?" Her voice sounded muffled and foreign to her ears. Snapping her eyes closed she forced herself to take deep breaths of the recycled air being pumped into her mouth and nose to try and ease her sore nerves. "Calm down Disco, just take slow deep breaths, we'll get out of this." Despite her encouraging statement her heart was pounding and aching with the dread of what she knew was coming. The memory of what she'd been doing in the desert returned to her. There had been a door on the ground with the letters A-WEB on it and as she had decided to go back to the Killjoy camp in the third zone and tell the others when the world had gone black. Had she been attacked when she turned her back?

_Of course_ she'd been attacked! It was the only explanation that made any sense at all. But what had attacked her? That was the question she needed to know the answer to. Was it a Drac or something worse? _Something worse? Like what? That IOD thing that Party Poison had been talking about when he got back from the first zone with Rainbow Riot, maybe? That was in the city though and this was a long way away from there. They wouldn't have gotten past the Killjoys that easily, especially if Captain Phantom is still holding her post in the second zone._

_ If that's the case then what the hell hit me?_ Goose bumps prickled up over her arms, brushing against the coat she wore uncomfortably. The cold of metal against her wrists gave way to something else even more uncomfortable. Her vision was too hazy to see clearly what was hooked to her but something was poking _in _her skin.

_Oh God, oh God! What is it? Get it out of me! Get it out!_ Panic rose again in the form of bile in the back of her throat. It felt like wires going into her skin, or were they just sensors stuck on her skin to monitor her condition? Turning her head from left to right she surveyed the room again and found nothing but darkness. There were no blinking machines or monitors to let her know where these wires were coming from.

Panic got the best of her and she began thrashing against the metallic bonds that held her into the chair. All she accomplished was making her wrists and ankles sore. Whatever device held her into this upright position was welded to the chair beneath her. There was no breaking free without some kind of key or being able to see where the weak points were.

A flood of cold fear fell over her, giving her chills down her spine and back up again. It was uncomfortable to keep still in the metallic prison she'd been subjected to now that she was aware she couldn't move. Some kind of light would both help and hurt the situation. Curiosity made her want to see what the hell she'd been subjected to while fear made her want to hide in the warm blanket of unconsciousness she'd found before. She'd been dreaming before she'd woken up to this hell. In her head she'd gone back to the eastern camp and she'd told Tiger all of her fears and all of her wants. Tiger had told her everything she'd ever wanted to hear and she was finally free of all the self inflicted sabotage she'd become a victim to over the years.

Instead she'd woken up to the harsh reality of a cold metallic chair and wires digging into the flesh of her arms. The more aware of her surroundings she became the more horrifying it all seemed to become. There were needles in the sides of her head. She could feel them digging into her scalp as she moved to try to break free. The pounding in her skull only worsened as she thought about the possibilities of what could have happened. If Better Living Industries was behind this then why hadn't she been drugged yet?

How long had she been unconscious? Maybe they were just trying to torture her by keeping her in the dark, hooked up to needles and wires. It could have all been just to fuck with her mind to think she was going to be experimented on. _Well, it's working._

Something began to hum in the darkness behind her and Disco turned her head to look at it habitually even though she didn't expect to see anything. An orange light behind and above her had clicked on. The light was small, too small to illuminate very much in the room. It had, however, been enough to enhance the shadows she could already make out. The room she was in was smaller than she had expected it to be. There were doors on either side of her, neither labeled in any way.

The whirring behind her became steadier and by the clicking sound that accompanied it, Disco guessed the machine was some kind of projector. In front of her was a vinyl screen, which she guessed images were going to eventually appear on.

_Maybe I am a test subject? What the hell is going on? _

The bright light that filled the room so suddenly hurt her eyes. The screen had come to life and become completely bright white in front of her, the light from the projector behind her being the source. A familiar beeping of an old film beginning to play echoed through the room. Disco glanced at her arms and saw the needles in her skin, the wires attached to her body in horror. The mask on her face looked like some kind of gas mask now that she could see it. Rust colored spots of blood covered the floor. _Failed prior experiments…_ Horror wasn't the word that Disco would've used for the feeling washing through her, but she couldn't think of a better one for it either.

Speakers to her left and right buzzed to life, deafeningly loud. She wanted to cover her ears but the effort was wasted and only aggravated her sore wrists. The black and white smiling logo of Better Living Industries flashed onto the screen and flickered hauntingly in front of her. Disco wanted to spit at it, but knew it'd just be another wasted effort.

"Everything you know is a lie." The voice of a woman, calm and cold, oozed from the monitors. Disco felt sick to her stomach, as though the cold voice was washing over her in a bath of ice. "Killjoy, you are here for reconditioning. Everything you know is a lie."

"No! No!" Disco screamed in objection, fighting harder against her bonds. Whatever was going to happen to her, she couldn't sit idly by and let it happen. Behind her once again, a sound hissed to life and that's just what it was: a hiss. Looking around sporadically, Disco searched for the source of the horrifying new sound and before she could find it, it found her in a way she hadn't anticipated.

Gas. The mask on her face was filling with an awful smell; something akin to almonds and chalk. Disco felt weak and fragile, but wasn't sure if it was an effect of the gas or if she was just riddled with fear and crumbling into the chair beneath her.

"This is not a test."

The blackness was renewed as the smiling face of Better Living Industries disappeared. Disco froze and stared at the screen, waiting for what would come next. Her heart was pounding so intensely she thought any second she would be going into cardiac arrest. _Maybe they are just trying to torture me after all? Well, if it wasn't working before, it sure is now. But why are they torturing me? What do they want from me?_

"Everything you know is a lie."

"You're the liars!" Disco shouted to no one in particular. The voiceover sounded like a recording. _If they're trying to drive me mad, it's also working. At this rate I'm going to be battier than Fire Frenzy by the end of the day._

"Everything you know is a lie." The screen came back to life and Disco nearly vomited at the scene being played in front of her. Men and women lined up against a chain link fence, naked, starved, their heads shaved. They weren't just standing there, they were strung up with barbed wire, mouths and eyes dripping with gore. Disco opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out and instead she choked on the gas being pumped into her system.

The images continued to flash, faster and faster, alternating between the Better Living smiling face and the horrors in black and white. Children lying wasted in the desert, their entrails hanging from their stomachs, jaws dislocated, bodies charred and burned. The images became more and more graphic and the smiling face began to change, flashing with words.

There is no hope.

There is only one answer.

Destroy.

Destroy.

Destroy.

Closing her eyes, Disco tried to ignore the humming, ignore the smoke in her lungs, and ignore the sound of the woman overhead telling her that her life was a lie. Most of all she was trying to get the visions of maimed children out of her mind.

"Open your mind. See the truth." The voiceover echoed. That cold as ice voice was like a parasite crawling into her ears, infecting her brain. She couldn't make it stop, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.

"Shut up!" Her throat hurt from screaming, or was it from the smoke? Disco couldn't let this happen, she had to fight it. Her wrists were already sore and aching from an earlier attempt to break free but she'd break them both if she had to as long as she could get free.

She squirmed and kicked, shaking her body from side to side, feeling the wires and IVs pulling and tearing at her flesh. Blood dripped down her cheek and over her neck from the needle that was pulling on the flesh on the side of her head.

Her kicking and flailing paid off after a moment and the chair fell to its side on the ground, crashing and clanging. The wires pulled, some of them even coming out of her skin entirely. Pain riddled her entire left side and the gas mask fell off of her face. The lights in the room came to life and the doors on either side of her opened. The screen turned off and the steam hiss of pistons came from the darkness beyond the door closest to her.

Disco froze and looked around, waiting for what was going to happen next. She watched the doorway, anticipating some new horror coming through it. The clicking and clanking on the floor became louder as it came closer and closer and she saw metallic legs creeping through the door. Six more metallic legs joined them, grabbing onto either side of the door as if trying to find a way to fit within the small room. The legs managed to pull the spider like body of the metallic beast into the room.

Disco could do nothing but gape at the metallic body forcing itself to fit into the small room. The metallic legs opened at the end and gripped at the ceiling to better fit itself in the confined area. At the center of the spider, sitting calmly was a woman who looked half dead, an elongated smile on her face. Half her features were metallic and rebuilt between rotting flesh. Disco gagged, but not from the smoke in her lungs. She could smell the rot coming from this woman's body. She was some kind of reanimated corpse, being controlled by the metallic body of a spider.

Shrieking in surprise, Disco felt something pick her chair back up and place it upright. She didn't get the chance to turn her head to find out who the source was before her head was forced upright and into place, facing forward. The ghostly white figure of Korse was forcing her head into place, tying it with a thick rope. The ruffles of his long sleeved poet's shirt brushed against her skin and sent chills down her spine.

"Stay still." He tilted his head as he secured her upright. "And keep your eyes open."

"Make me, mother fucker." Disco hissed, trying to sound strong when in reality she was trembling and nearly wetting herself with fear. _No matter what they do to me, I won't spill secrets, I won't betray the Killjoys. They'd have to kill me and turn me into one of them to make that happen!_

"Stubborn to the end, far more than the last one." The spider-corpse-woman hissed. It was the same cold voice she'd heard over the intercom during the video. Clearly whatever was going on in this building, she was behind it.

"Widow, let's show her how we make people cooperate." The hiss of the pistons returned as the Widow climbed up the wall and onto the ceiling, hanging upside down in front of Disco. The woman stared lifeless and smiling at Disco as her metallic spider legs reached around the room, pulling metallic supplies from cabinets in the corner.

A cold piece of iron was forced against Disco's forehead, tethered to the back of the chair with a strip of leather. With Korse's help, Widow forced Disco's eyelids open and used small metallic clips to pin them that way. Disco could do nothing but scream and howl for help, knowing it would fall on deaf ears.

Disco tried to pull her eyes closed, risking tearing the fragile skin but it wasn't working and only succeeded in causing her pain.

"Why are you doing this?" Disco had to look away from the spider woman hanging lifelessly in front of her, making her stomach churn. There was nowhere else to look though, not without being able to close her eyes and shield herself from the horrors Better Living had created in the interest of "advancement". Korse looked worse for wear as well but was still less terrifying than the spider. Clearly he hadn't fully recovered from the battle with Party Poison the day before in the second zone where Fire Frenzy had shot him with her rocket launcher to buy them some time.

"Our contact amongst the Killjoys has stopped responding over the last week. I suspect they've died in battle." Korse answered coldly. _Why is he telling me what's going on? Maybe he's just that confident of me not being able to do anything about it._

"So?" Disco choked the word out. It felt like they were all bunched up in her throat, trapped behind her swollen tongue. There were many other things she wanted to say to him but all she could manage was the one word.

"You will be their replacement. Once you're done with the reprogramming process that is." Korse answered simply, readjusting her gas mask so that it fully covered her mouth and nose and pulling the straps tighter. "If you knock it off again I will have Widow sew it to your fucking face so sit still." Korse turned away and walked out the door to her right. The metallic spider crawled down the wall and out the door on her left. The lights flipped off again and the screen came back to life. _Who was their first plant amongst the Killjoys? What do they mean reprogramming? No! No, fight it Disco!_

Better Living for a better life.

Destroy.

Destroy.

Destroy.

* * *

><p>Poison leaned against the half-rebuilt guard tower near the main entrance of the eastern Killjoy camp. Agent Alpaca and Tiger Beatdown had spent the last couple of hours gathering enough supplies to walk the day away in the blistering heat of the desert along with enough to provide Disco Bitch with water if she was dehydrated and first aid if she was wounded. Tiger had been hiding his fear incredibly well but Poison could still see the panic and anxiety coursing through him.<p>

With a shake of his head, he turned away as he watched them disappear into the desert and jumped slightly in surprise when he saw Black Cherrybomb standing directly behind him, apparently waiting for him to notice.

"Fuck man, you could've at least said something. Could you not… creep up on me like that?" Poison shook his head and tapped his hand against his leg in an attempt to get the paranoid feeling to disappear. _I fucking hate when people sneak up on me._

"Sorry, I just got here if it makes you feel any better about it. I didn't get a chance to actually tell you I was there before you turned around."

"It's fine."

"You looked lost in thought there for a moment and I didn't want to interrupt. What's on your mind if you don't mind my asking?"

"I thought you only talked to girls or some shit. I thought you had some weird Casanova complex."

"Yeah well the women seem to be dropping like flies around here." Cherrybomb hinted that he knew that Fire Frenzy had left the camp but Poison didn't feed into it._ If he wants to ask about her he can do it outright instead of dancing around it. Besides, why would he care anyway?_

"What do you want, Cherrybomb?"

"I want to go after Disco Bitch. On my own."

"You're not a Killjoy, I can't exactly stop you can I?" Poison said after a moment of confusion. "But, just for shits and giggles here, why do you want to go search for her? Alpaca and Tiger are going out there after her and that's already more men than I can spare."

"Yes, but they don't know the area the way that I do." Cherrybomb offered up as logic. "And for the record, I'd like to be a Killjoy again. I left because of the corruption a long time ago. I left when I realized that half the people joining were just in it for the glory of being called a Killjoy. It was like some bad ass symbol for awhile there… but that's not what it's about. I guess I forgot that too. I'd like to rejoin."

"I'd like that too." Poison furrowed his brow in confusion. That was the last thing he'd expected to hear from someone who had been so jaded about the Killjoys. Perhaps the things that had occurred in the last week had made an impact on the people around him in ways that hadn't yet surfaced. It was easy to forget that many things went unsaid in times of trial.

"Tell me I can go look for Disco. Alpaca and Tiger are from the west… how long has it been since they wandered this area? This is what I _do_, Poison. I roam through the desert finding things that no one else is willing to look for. If I can't find her out in the desert, then no one can." Cherrybomb put all of Poison's arguments to rest before he'd gotten to express them. Leaning against the guard tower again, Poison looked over the man in the cat suit. Despite the fact that he'd been a huge flirt since the beginning of this endeavor, Cherrybomb's heart had always seemed like it was in the right place.

"Okay, you can go. But you need to be back by morning at the very latest okay? And bring supplies. Find Fun Ghoul, he'll get a backpack for you. If you find Disco Bitch and she's injured or something you can send a flare up into the sky and I'll send reinforcements."

"That's it?" Cherrybomb's eyebrows rose high on his forehead in surprise.

"Yeah. Why is that so hard for you to believe?"

"I expected you to argue with me that Tiger and Alpaca had it under control."

"But they don't. I'm headstrong, not naïve." Poison scoffed. "Tiger's terrified she's dead and Alpaca can't stand her plus you were right. They're from the west, Alpaca's never been this far east before this and Tiger hasn't been here in years. You, as a mercenary for hire, know this place better than I probably do. You're right. If anyone can find her, it's you. Just be careful. It's the kind of heat that kills people today." Black Cherrybomb nodded his head and walked off without another word. He didn't need to reaffirm Poison's statements, or reassure him. The sooner he could go after Disco, the sooner he could hopefully help her.

_He knows Frenzy's gone. I didn't even have to say anything and he knew._ Poison heaved a sigh and then traveled slowly toward the prisons of the camp. He couldn't interrogate the Dracs but he could talk to Phoenix Fury about what he knew. The wound on his arm reminded him of why he'd put it off for so long. Bitterness wasn't as easy to get rid of as he had hoped it would be. Poison didn't like to admit when someone had gotten the best of him but Phoenix Fury had done that and more. _It's a long shot but it's possible Frenzy went to go talk to him. She did almost brand him._ The memory of Phoenix Fury's horrified face the few days prior in the fire light was enough to convince Poison to talk to him.

"I was wondering when you'd show up." Phoenix stood up in his cell. Exhaustion made him look older than he was, at least Poison was sure of that. He couldn't have been a day over twenty five.

"Yeah, well I had more important things to take care of before I visited you. Like the Dracs that infiltrated your group of so-called rebels." Poison leaned against the wall near the bars and folded his arms, only wincing a little bit as he bent his wounded arm.

"How's the arm?" Phoenix spat in annoyance. He may have been wrong about what had been going on amongst the Killjoys but it didn't mean he had to like Party Poison.

"How's the pride?" Phoenix looked away in annoyance and grunted in response to Poison's quip. A smirk curled on the right side of Poison's mouth.

"I didn't know there were Dracs amongst my men. I'd heard rumors of corruption long before I had a following. I only want to do good for this world."

"Well then, you're on the wrong side of these if that's the case." Poison pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the cell door. He stepped back as it swung open and waited for Phoenix Fury to realize he was free. The leader of the rebels who had stormed the camp stood staring at the swinging door. He didn't leave the cell and Poison wondered if he thought part of him deserved imprisonment. _I guess I'd do the same thing if I had just found out I'd been following the words of the very people I was trying to stop._

"Why are you letting me go?"

"Your Killjoys were young, naïve, and careless. One thing we stand for is unity. I've heard stories about your rebels. Killing needlessly…" Poison began to accuse the man with the green mohawk but didn't threaten him.

"That's not what I preached."

"Hard isn't it? To control a group of a hundred people without having every single one of them follow your rules."

"Yeah, it is." Phoenix Fury folded his arms. "How do you do it?"

"I didn't." Poison shrugged his shoulders. "Clearly, or you wouldn't have had to attack my camp. I should thank you."

"For what?"

"Waking me up to see that we'd become weak."

"Are you mocking me or something?" Phoenix Fury looked annoyed and confused. "First that pyro chick and now you…"

"You saw Fire Frenzy?" Poison cocked an eyebrow, trying not to look too eager to hear his response.

"I didn't know her name then, but yeah, she came to see me a few days ago to talk to me."

"What did she say?"

"Not a lot. She was just as cryptic as you're being now. She said I was wrong about you… though she did call you a lot of pretty terrible names." Phoenix smiled a little, finally stepping out of the cell. Testing the waters, that's what he was doing. He clearly thought it was still some kind of joke that he was being set free.

"She told you that you were wrong?"

"Only sort of. She said I did the right thing for the wrong reasons. Something about asking you about the proof I had before jumping to conclusions. I thought about it after she left and she was right. The photos could've been easily manipulated of you and the Dracs. I'd heard the same rumors that everyone else had heard. You know, the ones of you manipulating women and using your power to trade orphans for supplies."

"I've never done anything like that. I… am kind of a womanizer though." Poison looked down, ashamed for the first time of that. He had spent the last few years wasting his time on meaningless nights with women who he'd never think about again. "But I've never done anything to anyone against their will."

"I figured that out on my own, but thanks for clearing it up." Phoenix crossed his arms and walked hesitantly toward Party Poison. Something seemed off about the red headed leader of the Killjoys. He looked like he wanted to ask something but was hesitating. He stood a good few inches taller than the man in front of him, and much bulkier. Most men backed up from Phoenix when he got close but Poison didn't bother.

"Well, then I'd be honored if you'd help me here. With my Killjoys. You want to know why my men are so loyal to me? The ones who didn't follow you?"

"You're going to just tell me your secrets, no strings attached? Just like you freed me?"

"It's not a secret." Poison shrugged. Phoenix didn't seem to understand.

"These people are my family, not my army." Poison held his hand up to stop Phoenix's immediate objection. "It sounds corny and fucking stupid I know. Not everyone here is my family, but there are enough people who know me and trust me and vice versa that they help me. This isn't a job that can be done alone and the sooner you realize that, the stronger you become. No one can fight Better Living alone. Someone wise once said… united we stand, divided we fall."

"That's really your secret?" Phoenix contemplated his words for a few moments and then sighed. "Well, if I knew this was going to be some after school special I wouldn't have shot you."

"Apology accepted. Honestly, I would've shot me too." Shuffling his feet, Poison walked past him and started discussing what he really wanted from the man. "I need to know what happened to the western camp. And I need to know what you did with the Crow's Nest in zone two. I have valuable people out there."

"I did the same thing in the west that I did here." Phoenix shrugged his shoulders again. "I took them over the moment I got wind that Tiger Beatdown and Agent Alpaca had left. I will send one of my men over there with a letter and tell them to stand down and meet me in the desert. We can sort things out and they can be free."

"Yeah, unless the Dracs over in the west amongst your men have already figured out what we did over here and have taken over."

"Well, only time can tell. If that's the case then you can just take back the camp the way that you took it back here."

"It's not that easy. A lot of my men are wounded and so are yours. Not to mention, the western camp is all underground so it's a lot harder to storm."

"I'll help. You have a strategist right? Let me meet with them and I'll tell you how we took over." Phoenix smirked; he was quite the strategist himself.

"Thank you." Poison walked past Phoenix Fury, no longer threatened by the man. "What did you do with Captain Phantom?"

"That… is more of a mystery." Running his fingers through his failing green mohawk, Phoenix looked away from Poison's gaze. "I sent a group of rebels there to barter with her. They're a valuable asset to the Killjoys and I wanted to strike a similar bargain with her the way that you have. The problem is I never heard back from the men I sent that way."

"That's because Captain Phantom probably kicked their asses." Poison couldn't help but laugh at the comical vision of the woman with the eye patch taking down the group of young rebels.

"That, or the men I sent had a Drac or two amongst them that I didn't know about and your dear Captain Phantom is dead. I told them if they weren't willing to strike a bargain then they were to be kept away from the eastern zone until I'd gained control. I can send a message their way if you like."

"I think my men should handle that. Phantom will shoot anyone she doesn't recognize if the Dracs shook them up."

"Whatever you think is best. You know her far better than I do."

"That's right."

"So that's it huh? I'm free to go."

"You are. I know you were in this for the same reasons I am. I'm not going to punish you because the Dracs fooled you. I would've done the same thing if the tables were turned."

"That's what she said actually… The pyro." Phoenix looked toward the doorway then back at the red headed Killjoy.

"What?"

"She said she would've done the same thing."

"Did she?" Poison scoffed a bit and looked at the ground. "Did she say anything else? Like… what she was going to do next?"

"No, I'm afraid she didn't." Phoenix Fury walked to the doorway. "So…"

"Yes, you can go. I need to think."

"No, not that."

"Then what?"

"So, hard ass, womanizing Party Poison does have a heart, after all." Phoenix smirked knowingly. Party Poison chose not to respond to the comment. _Why am I suddenly so easy to read? People used to have no idea what the hell I was thinking and now this green haired fucker who barely knows me can even tell I'm lamenting! God damnit!_

"Just go before I change my mind, okay?" Poison tried to look threatening but Phoenix smiled in a way to let him know he'd clearly not been afraid.

"Thanks Party Poison."

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

><p>Frenzy planted her feet firmly on the old and worn carpet as Destroyer tried to drag her across the room. Instigator and Obliterator turned their backs on the scene as though they didn't want to see what their brother had in store for the tiny woman. <em>I'm not going down without a fight. I'll find my way out of this.<em>

"Stop struggling, little girl."

"Fuck you!" Frenzy spat and suddenly relaxed her feet and stopped resisting his pulling her. Destroyer stumbled backwards from the strength he'd been using to pull the girl forward and the momentum he'd built up. Frenzy twisted her wrist free and grabbed her ray gun from its holster. She fell to the ground and dropped the gun as Destroyer lunged at her ankle and pulled her down. A grunt escaped her lips as the wind was knocked out of her. Her nails dug into the carpet in front of her as she groped for her gun, but bent uncomfortably and bled as Destroyer dragged her forward.

"Oh just you wait you little bitch…" Destroyer forced her to her feet and grabbed both her wrists. Frenzy cursed under her breath as he dragged her into one of the theaters she hadn't bothered to check earlier. Perhaps she should've checked them first, judging by what she's seen. _I take back what I said about predictability._

Children sat in rows, scattered throughout the theater. Some of them stared at the screen in front of them with blank dead eyes, even bloody, and others were maimed and trying to find release. Several heads turned to look at her, accusing, begging her for help.

"A killjoy!"

"Help us!"

"Save us!"

"He's killing us!"

"Run, he'll kill you too…" The little boy closest to her as she was dragged down the stairs spoke, not bothering to look at her as he did. He'd given up on his life, quite clearly. He stared blankly ahead at the blank movie theater screen.

_No, no, not now, not now, I can't do this, not now!_ Frenzy's breath caught in her throat and panic struck her. She couldn't breathe, her fingers were going numb and her knees were locking up. Closing her eyes could block out their dead and hollow faces, but she could still hear their voices calling to her for help. She wasn't sure if the voices were real or in her head. Were any of these children really alive or was it all just her mind playing tricks on her again? Frenzy was forced out of her thoughts when Destroyer shoved her into the aisle and forced her into one of the theater seats.

"You are going to sit and you're going to fucking watch!" Destroyer's eyes were empty which scared Frenzy more than the insanity she'd seen there. At least when she'd seen his madness there had been some semblance of humanity left within him. Now there was nothing but the cold dead stare of someone who'd seen too much death. _Is that what I look like when you're talking to me?_

"Better Living thinks that they're programming more super soldiers here… soldiers like my brother but you know what they've really been doing?" Destroyer leaned over her chair and let his tongue hang out like a rabid dog, dripping with drool. Frenzy narrowed her eyes at him not responding but instead trying to find some sign of weakness which was a lot harder with her actually _being frightened_. It wasn't something she often felt, but this kind of fear was crippling. "I fucking asked you a question, and you will fucking answer me!"

"What are they doing then, _asshole_?" Frenzy managed to mutter. It wasn't smart to piss him off further. She had to buy time to get out of this. Something seemed unstable about him, other than the obvious insanity. If she could tap into that instability perhaps she could at least find the opportunity to run to the door and get the hell out of there.

"Nicer." Destroyer wrapped his unnaturally long fingers around her throat and squeezed. "Or I crush your airways and watch you choke on your own vomit." If she hadn't instantly felt the panic of her lungs in need of air then Frenzy would've resisted, but instead she choked out his demand as quickly as she could.

"What are they doing? What are _you_ doing?" Frenzy gasped against the pressure of his hand then gasped for air as Destroyer released her neck and walked down the aisles of the movie theater. Glancing back at the door she knew she couldn't get there in time before he'd turn and catch her.

"That's better. One by one… I've been taking BL/ind's little toys and _fucking with them_. I'll destroy them all one way or another. They think they can replace me and my family so easily? I'll tear each of their experiments limb from limb, sew them back up and then they can tell me how fucking precious they are!" Destroyer laughed, leaning over the destroyed body of a little girl. She couldn't watch what would come next and turned her head to look around the theater, hearing the sickening sound of teeth gnashing against flesh. The children around him were screaming and crying, begging him to stop and leave them alone.

Frenzy couldn't take listening to their anguish anymore. Creeping to her feet and into the aisle, she ignored the small hand on her skirt and the sound of a little girl telling her to run while she could, to leave them because they're already ruined. _You're never ruined._

"Where do you think you're going? Coming to beg for my forgiveness? They all beg in the end, you'll be no different." Destroyer stood up straight and turned to face Fire Frenzy. Blood dripped down his chin, over his neck. His tongue snaked out to lick his lips clean of it and she got a glance of fangs once again. "Something tells me you're stubborn though, this should be _fun_."

"Fun? You think this is fun?" Frenzy snarled in disgust. "You pick on them because they're weak and helpless and you think that you're some kind of big bad vampire?"

"Big talk for a woman with no gun." Destroyer reached for her wrist to pull her again, seeming like he was enjoying the taunting. "I am a big bad vampire and I'm going to drain you dry, rip out your fucking throat and destroy your corpse so that no one will fucking recognize you…"

The sick thud of her blade pushing through flesh echoed through the theater. Each child that could turned their head to look at the two standing in the aisle. Frenzy had snuck her blade out of her boot when she'd sat in the chair and with all the strength she had, had dug it into Destroyer's chest. He stared at the blade in surprise and the blood that began to drip down his chest through the thick black shirt he wore.

With another grunt of frustration Frenzy gave the blade another push and twisted as hard as her arm would allow her. "You're not a fucking vampire, you're a fucking psycho path. You think you're a big man torturing these fucking kids? Not such a big fucking vampire now with a hole in your fucking chest!" Frenzy didn't bother taking the knife back. She shoved him away, since he seemed momentarily stunned and ran to the front of the theater.

The children were all silent, watching her and seeming amazed that she had gotten to Destroyer the way she had. Destroyer, on the other hand, stumbled back and fell to the ground, hands shaking as he felt the blood dripping down his chest. He'd never bled before, not since the experiments.

"Come on, hurry! Get out of here! You don't have much time…" Frenzy whispered as she worked on the bonds that enslaved the children to their chairs. She even released the dead and gone ones, just to give them a chance. _Maybe their souls will find peace if nothing else._

"Why are you staying? He'll get you!" A young boy who stumbled to his feet looked confused.

"Go, just go." Frenzy was losing it, and very quickly. Usually it would take days of staring at corpses and photographs of the dead to send her this far but here she was, descending into the depths of her mind.

Destroyer was fixated on the blood and licked his fingers clean of it. It'd taken him a few moments to get it together. Children were running out of the emergency exits the theater had been equipped with when it had functioned as such a thing. His anguish sounded more like a roar than a scream. With one swift tug he pulled the knife free of his rib cage and surveyed the theater.

"You stupid bitch! You didn't even try to run? You just fucking lost your chance!" Destroyer's voice had changed. What had once been menacing and taunting was now deep and unearthly. Frenzy recalled the old movies about possession she'd seen in her youth and if she hadn't known better she would've thought he had the devil in him. She half expected for him to cry out _"We are Legion"_ at any moment.

Fingers trembling, she worked on the bonds of the children in the second row. Even if it meant dying at his hands, she'd let as many of these kids free as she could. No one deserved to be tortured and eaten. Her hands were numb and she sat stunned when the face of the little girl she was trying to free ripped in two. Destroyer stood behind her and grabbed what was left of the girl's chin, plunging Frenzy's knife into her skull a second time. Hot blood splattered on Frenzy's face and against her better judgment she jumped onto the arm rests of the little girl's seat and launched herself at Destroyer.

He'd not anticipated her to make such a rash move and they both fell back into the seats behind them. Frenzy rolled onto the floor in the row behind him, landing on her arm, sticking to the floor in the blood from the maimed children. Getting to her feet she barely made it upright before Destroyer grabbed her. With an unnatural strength and rage only matched by her own, Destroyer threw Fire Frenzy across the theater. Her back ached as the seats behind her fell apart, and shattered to the ground.

Fingers twitching in pain, Frenzy used the destroyed seats to pull herself to her feet. Weak knees made her stumble forward and nearly fall back down.

"You made me bleed you bitch! You know how you'll pay? You've doomed these kids, I was only going to fuck with them and now I'm going to _destroy_ them, then I'm going to destroy you!" Destroyer pulled a boy by his hair from his seat and forced him to his feet.

"Don't hurt me, please! Help me!" The boy shook and whimpered but only blood poured from his lips when the blade met his throat and cut across.

"No!" Frenzy screamed in outrage.

"This is _your fault_. _Your fault, your fault!_" Destroyer screamed and taunted, pushing the blade angrily into the already deceased child's chest and slicing it downward until it met his navel. Frenzy didn't have any more weapons, any more tricks up her sleeve. The only thing she had left was her lighter and there was nothing flammable around her.

Sirens rang suddenly inside of the theater. Someone had pulled the fire alarm, or some kind of alarm. Frenzy couldn't tell what Better Living had it rigged for and she didn't care. Unless it brought Dracs. Then she cared.

_It is your fault. This psycho is right. You doomed these kids to death. You saved what, fourteen at the most? Now they're all going to die._ "No." Frenzy muttered and pushed her hands over her ears, trying to block out the voices. _Stop it, stop it. Not now, not now! You are going to die if you don't get it together! Your fault, your fault! You deserve to die! Die and rot for each little life you stole._

"Pay attention to me you bitch! Don't you care that I'm killing them?" Destroyer saw she was staring at him, but not really _looking_ at him. He'd had enough of her defiance, and enough of her annoyances.

"Stop hurting them! Hurt me if you have to, but leave them alone!" Frenzy's throat felt raw and scratched up. The dizziness she felt made her aware of the blood dripping down the back of her neck. She must have hit her head on something when he'd thrown her. "You're not worth paying attention to!"

"Oh, I'm not?" Growling between clenched teeth, Destroyer approached her and grabbed her, shoving her on the ground. The building felt like it was trembling. Things _were_ shaking, Frenzy wasn't just going mad. Or was she? Her head was splitting and she pushed her hand in his face, digging her nails at his eyes. There was no way she was going to go down without a fight but as the knife cut into her arm her grip on his skin failed and she screamed in pain.

"That's it, bleed! Bleed like a stuck pig!" Destroyer cackled and licked the blade of the knife. Frenzy closed her eyes and tried to reach for the wound on her arm, urging it close to her chest and up, to try and stop the bleeding but the knife tore at her flesh again. "Like butter melting under a hot knife, you cut too easy you bitch. Bleeder, _bleeder_."

"Fuck!" The pain made her twitch and made crawling away nearly impossible. Destroyer stood up and Frenzy did her best to scoot back, cradling her maimed arm to her chest. Gagging on the blood in her throat, Frenzy coughed as Destroyer kicked at her ribs and grabbed the wound on her left arm.

"That's right, scream, cry, plead because no one will fucking hear you! I will fucking hang you outside this theater as my fucking prize you bitch!" Frenzy didn't bother responding to his taunts, she was in far too much pain and each time she opened her mouth, blood dripped down her lips.

"Destroyer! What the hell did you do?" The voice of Instigator echoed through the theater. The sprinklers built into the ceiling sprang to life and poured water all over the theater. Frenzy laid twitching on the ground as Destroyer dropped her.

"Stay out of this Instigator…" His growl was dangerous and threatening.

"You were supposed to kill her _not the experiments_ and even worse… You let her _hurt_ you? You're a failure." Her voice was on edge, even though it was monotonous.

_Are they both mad?_ Frenzy wondered momentarily if this was how people felt around her: absolutely and utterly terrified. Destroyer finally looked away from her and back at his sister.

"I will do as I please! She's mine, I'll slice her up, eat her alive and make her _mine_! I will cut each of their throats and I'll _cut yours too_ if you try to stop me!"

"You are out of control Destroyer!"

"You are out of your league _sister_!" Frenzy watched the two standoff and was shocked as she saw Destroyer lunge at Instigator, only to be thrown back by some unseen force that Instigator must have caused with just a wave of her hand.

"Holy shit…" Frenzy whispered in awe. She didn't have any time to be amazed by the power this woman had. This was her chance. She had to get away. If she didn't, then she never would. Her first attempt to get to her feet was thwarted by her left arm crumbling beneath the pressure. Laying face first on the ground she took a deep breath and forced herself to grit through the pain and get to her feet. The fight raged on behind her between the two super human creatures and she stumbled out the door of the theater. The water from the sprinklers made her sore and caused her wounds to sting but she had to trudge on. It was only a few more feet to the front doors, to her motorcycle and her flamethrower. She walked a bit further wanting to retrieve her gun that she'd dropped earlier and then cried out in surprise as she was thrown back again.

"Just because my brother couldn't take care of you doesn't mean you get away." The man in the bowler hat, Obliterator, held his cane in both hands. With a quick twist the snake head separated from the remainder of the cane and revealed a long blade. He discarded the cane like piece and pinned her before she could get off of the ground.

"You can let me go. Killing me accomplishes nothing. I'm not a Killjoy and I'm too crazy for anyone to be outraged."

"No, no… pretty little girl, don't think I'm as stupid as my brother is." Frenzy closed her eyes and winced, feeling the blade's tip scrape against her face, just enough to make her bleed but not enough to maim her.

"I don't think any of you are stupid, I just think you're crazy…" She hissed against the pain in her face.

"Hey! Dick!" Frenzy and Obliterator looked toward the doorway in confusion. The little girl who Frenzy had ushered out of the theater earlier, Grace, was standing there holding Frenzy's flamethrower. _No! No what is she doing! She's going to get killed and it'll be my fault! Damnit_! "Let her go!" Grace aimed the flamethrower and started setting things on fire. Sirens and alarms were going off left and right and Obliterator started toward the little girl to stop her, but was burned in the flames, yelling in frustration and anger.

Frenzy got to her feet, ignoring the pain she felt and picked up her ray gun she'd lost earlier when Destroyer had dragged her into the theater. Without looking back she grabbed Grace by the arm and dragged her into the parking lot in front of the theater.

"You're out of your mind kid! You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I couldn't leave you there with him after you saved us! It wasn't fair! He was going to kill you! I could hear you screaming all the way down the block!" Grace looked frightened but determined. Frenzy would've smiled and reassured her if she hadn't been in so much pain.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

"Your bike is totaled." Grace grabbed her arm and handed her the flame thrower. "Instigator came out afterward and destroyed it. I saw her do it. But I'd grabbed your gun beforehand. I needed protection for my friends."

"Fuck, let's find a car. I can hotwire it." Frenzy stumbled along with the little girl. Grace looked panicked and Frenzy couldn't blame her. No amount of insanity was going to stop her from saving this little girl, even though right now she'd been the one who had been saved. There was a lone sedan in the parking lot and it looked long abandoned but Frenzy would make it work. She used her left arm to break through the glass. Her right arm had gone numb and she was woozy with blood loss but she'd fight it until she couldn't any longer.

Unlocking the doors after breaking the window Frenzy got into the driver's seat and crouched low. She heard the passenger door close, letting her know that Grace had climbed into the car. Frenzy discarded her guns in the back seat and pulled the electronic panel down from underneath the steering wheel.

"Keep an eye out, Grace." Frenzy whispered and heard the girl shift in her seat to keep watch. It'd been so long since Frenzy had worked on a car that she was getting confused. The blood in her eyes didn't help and her right hand wouldn't stop trembling. "Damnit…" She hooked the wires together and heard the telltale sound of the engine trying to turn over. "Got it!" The engine roared to life and Grace screamed at the top of her lungs. The car bounced with the weight of something landing on the hood. Frenzy looked up just in time to see the windshield shattering as Destroyer smashed at the front of the car with his fists.

"You're not getting away!" He hissed and growled. Bloody and injured, he'd obviously managed to get away from Instigator to come after her. Grabbing her by the back of her jacket, with one swift pull he tugged her through the hole he'd made in the glass of the windshield.

"You know how to drive?" Frenzy yelled to Grace who squeaked back that she could out of fear.

"Well what are you waiting for? Go!" Frenzy screamed. Grace was terrified. If she got into the driver's seat and slammed the accelerator she'd hurt Fire Frenzy, but she'd also get away to safety. "Go! To the third zone! Ask for Party Poison! Tell him I sent you!"

"But what about you?"

"She's a bit busy little girl, you'll have to try back later." Destroyer hissed and covered Frenzy's mouth. He threw her off of the hood of the car and felt her shirt tear and the zipper rip against her skin as she hit the asphalt of the parking lot. Frenzy struggled to get back onto the ground but her head was aching and throbbing. She crawled forward and then screamed in pain as she felt a bite on her right thigh. "Keep trying to escape, I like to watch you struggle!" Destroyer bit at her skin again and tugged pulling the gore from her leg.

"No! Let her go!" Grace's voice caught her by surprise again as she ran from the car to her aid.

"No you don't!" Obliterator grabbed the little girl by the arm and tugged her back toward the theater.

"No! Leave her be! Let her go!" Frenzy forced herself to a sitting position. Destroyer grabbed her wounded wrist and threw her back toward the car. Frenzy wanted to tell them to take her instead of Grace. Perhaps she had pissed them off enough that her life would be more valuable than the little girl's. The words she had for them though wouldn't come and she could see the edges of her vision starting to fade.

_No! No! I can't go, not yet! _Frenzy's vision continued to darken, despite her trying to fight to get upright. She expected to feel Destroyer on her again at any second but instead saw the dimming light of laser fire. Boots stepped into her vision, apparently protecting her but she fell into unconsciousness before she could find out if it was a friend or foe, firing the laser overhead.


	24. Pirating

The torture went on for what felt like hours. _At least I think it's been hours, I can't honestly tell you how long it's been since they left me here alone to watch this terrible film. Even without the gas and the needles the movie itself would've been torture enough to drive me to wit's end._ Rotating her sore and bloody wrists in an attempt to free herself had become a habit. She'd let them rest for a few moments before wiggling again in an attempt to break free from her prison. For awhile she thought she'd made some progress but her skin was so raw now it had become hard to tell if the bonds had given at all or if she'd just lost skin.

The reel on the projector had finally run to its end and the creepy voice from the intercom overhead ceased it's chanting. It'd taken her some time to realize the intercom had been a recording. After meeting the Widow she hadn't been sure if the creature was standing outside monitoring her or if the voice had been on a tape. Studying the dialogue as it repeated, allowed her to realize that it had indeed been a recording on repeat set to play with the film.

Oxygen felt odd in her lungs after having inhaled so much of the gas through the mask on her face. After a few hours she'd begun to feel something coursing through her veins as well, presumably entering her from the tubes stuck into her body in various places. A white screen stared back at her, no longer reflecting images and the projector clicked as the end of the film brushed against it, hanging loosely as it continued to spin. The light from the projector kept the room illuminated enough for Disco to properly examine it.

Head spinning and pounding, she tried to pull free of the leather strap imprisoning her head to keep her facing forward. Leather stretched and strained against her tugging and after a few moments of struggle finally fell free and released her head. Disco Bitch's neck was aching from how her head was forced so far back against the head rest of the chair in an unnatural position. Right now though in comparison, the ache was the least of her worries, but she couldn't help but be annoyed by the sharp aching pain that shot up the back of her neck to enhance her headache further.

Now that the reel of the film had reached its end Disco was sure that Korse or that horrifying spider bitch would come back for her to continue her reconditioning or move her into some new kind of horror. It obviously hadn't reached its end yet since she could move of her own free will and continue to plot ways to escape, but whatever the gas had done to her was beginning to take its toll.

The pain in her head was intensifying with each attempt at movement that she made, beginning to create a fog of sorts in her thoughts. Pins and needles stabbed into her brain, at least that's what it felt like. _It's like a fucking beetle is crawling around inside of my skull, snipping at my brain with its pincers. I can't give into it, I've got to try to ignore it and get to safety before it's too late and I've completely lost it. And let's face it. I never really had it to begin with._

If anyone could help her out of this, it would be the Killjoys. They'd been trying to find ways to break through Better Living's reprogramming since the beginning and Disco would be more than happy to be a test subject if it meant possibly curing her of whatever BL/ind had done and helping others who had befallen the same fate.

_First thing first though, I have to break out of this damn chair._ Flipping it over again was out of the question since it would make too much noise and draw attention to the escape plans she was trying to keep quiet. If she was lucky, then Korse and the Widow would wait awhile to come in and start the next tape or continue the process of brainwashing. Disco fidgeted and moved her head around in an attempt to dislodge the gas mask that was fixed to her face with rubber straps. Perhaps getting it off would allow her to reach down and use her teeth to help at least get rid of some of the wires and IVs prodding annoyingly into her flesh.

There was enough light now for Disco to see that there was a seam down the center of each cuff around her wrist where the welder had melted two pieces of metal together to form it. If she could just get a grip on one of the needles from the IV, she could use it to test the strength of the seam and though she doubted the needle would do much of anything to the seam, at least she'd have tried. The only other option she could see was if she could reach the locks on each cuff with the needle, which she assumed were on the underside of the arm rests since they weren't visible from this angle. That seemed like the scenario to most likely work properly so she went with that one first.

Luckily, she'd had years of experience picking locks after becoming an assassin amongst the Killjoys. She'd actually prided herself in her skills. The thought gave her hope and a newfound drive to push further. It was reaching underneath and getting the needle into a lock she couldn't see and wasn't sure existed that would be the tough part.

Maybe if she could grab onto a piece of the IV and use that to reach underneath to the keyhole, she'd have a chance. It was a long shot to say the least, but it was the only idea she could come up with in her panicked state that made any sense. Every noise in the room, each creak of her chair, every breath of the air circulation system, down to the click of the film reel behind her was making her paranoid. The sounds took forms behind her, the spider's steam hinges coming for her, Korse's boots clicking against the concrete.

"You can do this Disco Bitch; you have to get out of here. There are no other options" All of the arguments she'd had with Agent Alpaca over the last week seemed incredibly petty now given the circumstances. Why had she even let any of his anger get to her in the first place? She should've just let him feel the way he felt instead of being so obstinate about it. Perhaps if she got free, she could tell him that and they could agree to disagree instead of constantly bicker with one another over Tiger Beatdown. It had been a struggle for her, but she'd decided to try not to think of Tiger at all early on through the torture. If she did, then she'd likely break down into tears.

It was easy to realize you were throwing away your chance at love when someone threatened to rip it all away from you before you were ready to even admit it. And in the end, a life without love was no life at all- it was merely making the motions.

Jaw sore from the actions she'd made in her escape attempt, the gas mask finally fell off and around her neck. Disco gasped for the fresher air in the room. It was true that whatever toxic gas she'd been forced to inhale had stopped when the movie had stopped, but still the recycled air being pumped in through the mask didn't compare to the fresh air in the room. _Well, as fresh as the air in a presumably underground torture chamber could be._

"Slow progress." The more air Disco inhaled, the more her chest seemed to ache. Whatever they'd done to her, it was taking a more noticeable physical effect the harder she worked. Her time to escape seemed extremely limited if the rapid decline of her faculties continued at this rate. Despite the pounding in her head, Disco leaned forward as far as she could and clamped her teeth around the IV in her right forearm. Bracing herself, with a swift tug, she pulled the IV out and bit down on the plastic tubing to keep from crying out in pain and discomfort at the tearing the needle in her flesh caused.

Disco kept her teeth clamped down on the IV and urged herself as far forward as she could manage. After a few desperate grasps she slipped the tubing into her hand. Leaning back up was a relief but her work was far from over. It took her a dozen tries at least, but with her hand pushed as far into the metallic bracket as it would go, she was able to slip the needle into a hole beneath the arm rest. Fiddling the needle around was a tedious task and several times it fell out of place and had to be reinserted but after a few terrifying moments, something clicked and the metallic bond snapped open, freeing her hand.

"Oh thank god." Disco gasped in relief. Though it was true she hadn't thought out the rest of her escape, this first step was a small glimmer of hope. She'd make up the rest of it as she went. Her arm was aching and sore from the struggle to escape but getting the second shackle off wouldn't be anywhere near as difficult. It took her all of two minutes to break free of her remaining bonds. Fear kept her in the seat for a few moments before she braved walking.

What kind of effect would these drugs have on her? What if she couldn't walk anymore? Or what if muscle function were impaired? The only thing she could do was wait and see and hope that Jet-Star would be able to find some kind of cure to reverse the effects. Either that or she could suffer the side effects and go through the withdrawal. These two very realistic worries crossed her mind but she couldn't dwell on them for very long. Not with the second nagging voice in her head.

_Destroy, destroy, destroy. You were built to destroy. _Disco froze in place and looked around. Where had that voice come from? The intercoms weren't buzzing and the voice hadn't belonged to Korse or Widow, both which she had learned to recognize during the course of the film. _Disco Bitch, what are you doing? Where are you going? Your place is here. Amongst us. Stay. Destroy. Destroy._

"Oh no…" Disco whispered, inhaling sharply. It wasn't the voice of anyone in the room or anyone outside of it. That voice telling her to destroy, telling her to betray the Killjoys, to give up her free will was her own voice, a voice in her head. There was no time for Disco to panic about hearing voices. This could be the only chance to escape that she had and she was going to take it for what it was worth. Either she'd get out or she would die trying. _I'd rather die than listen to you._

Scanning the room, Disco stumbled forward carefully. All of her limbs still seemed to work properly so at least there was that small silver lining. Despite the pain she felt coursing through her stiff body, she pressed onward. Removing the wires and the IVs was both a relief and a pain. Whatever was flooding through her veins now would soon run out and she'd hit withdrawal quickly depending on the drug. It was hard to remember all the different ones that the Killjoys had discovered. Every time that the Killjoys had managed to find a way around one drug, it had been replaced with a newer more potent one that Better Living had been developing in secret.

"Don't panic." Reminding herself verbally seemed to reassure her and Disco managed to walk to the other end of the room, behind the projector. There were countertops and cabinets filled with rubber tubing, masks, and needles. At the very top of the room was an air vent and just what Disco needed to escape. Her gun was gone and she never hoped to find it again. She'd miss the thing, but it wasn't worth running into Korse or that horrible spider woman to try and find it.

_Real classy; escaping a secret underground facility via air vent. I'm probably going to be too heavy for the metal it's made out of, or I'm going to be too loud and echo through it and get caught. Oh well, it's the only chance I've got and if I die in an air vent, at least I die trying to fight my way out… even if it's not that glamorous. _It took all of Disco's remaining strength to get onto the countertop and by the time she'd managed to work the grate of the air vent off she had no idea how the hell she was going to manage to climb inside of it.

"But I have to try." Disco stacked as many solid objects as she could, not bothering to take note of what they were, just hoping they could help her reach the top without collapsing and creating a noise that would give her away. Her body slid into the air vent and though she felt instantly claustrophobic it wasn't nearly as bad as she had expected it to be. The metal around her was sturdier and thicker than she had anticipated it to be and if she was careful and dragged her body by using her arms instead of crawling, she'd manage to make little to no noise. Air flow from above was making her eyes burn with dry irritation, but it was a small price to pay for freedom. Arm over arm Disco crept until she heard voices from the room below and froze out of paranoia.

"This facility is a death trap, being so far underground." The voice wasn't one she recognized, but she stopped to listen anyway. Already she was taking a big risk, so she might as well try to understand a bit better what was happening to her. Even if these Dracs below her offered her no information, it would be worth waiting and listening. That was, of course, if no one went to check in the reconditioning room and saw she was gone and had removed the cover of the air vent. _I still have to listen._

"What do you mean? It seems pretty safe down here to me. We have emergency procedures." It seemed like the voices were coming from two low level Dracs that were merely having a conversation in the corridor below. Disco dragged herself to the nearest grate and peeked down at them and their familiar white outfits.

"Well, besides the fucking emergency systems locking all the steel fucking doors you mean? How many times have we gotten stuck in here because a fire alarm went off? The last time the oxygen system went out and four of us died! Fucking died because of a false alarm."

"Nothing is perfect and I trust Better Living. They've never led us astray before."

"Yeah, well besides the glaring failure of the emergency systems, it's these people we're testing down here. They make me nervous. Have you seen them after those freaky tests? God, I hate walking down near the containment cells."

"Ugh yes…" The man made a noise like he had the shivers.

"It's fucking scary to watch them decline. Fucking starting off normal like us then turning into fucking zombies by the end. This experiment is shit. Better Living should let it go. I'm going to write a fucking letter, I'm scared they're going to go crazy and try to eat our brains!"

"They had that one test subject, though that worked for awhile, and look where it got us. The Killjoys practically ate shit for it."

"Yeah, but now it's non-responsive and the up and ups are panicking to find a replacement before the Killjoys catch wise."

"Do you think it was just a slower reaction to the medication than the others? Perhaps the subject had some kind of immunity to the negative side effects of the drug so it worked slower on them?"

"You mean, do I think that the subject got ill, went mad then died a horrible painful death? Yeah, that's probably what happened. That's what the rest of them fucking did, why would that one be so damn special?"

"You're right, this project really is a disaster. I don't want to be down here when those things turn."

"Not to mention that Widow is pulling all the strings. She scares the hell out of me. I wouldn't want to be on the other end of her web. When she's carrying them around… Ugh, I can't even think about it without getting the creeps."

Disco didn't need to hear anymore from the men about the project and continued to pull herself through the vents in an attempt to escape the eerie conversation. _I'm going to die. I'm going to die a "horrible painful death" descending into madness and I won't even be able to tell anyone what happened to me if it's true. I'll never get another chance to tell everyone how I really feel. God why was I so stubborn? Oh God, what if I go mad before I can get out?_ What if she hadn't gotten far enough into the testing for it to have that kind of an effect on her? Maybe she wouldn't go mad and die. It was wishful thinking and she doubted she was that lucky, but she would cling to that thought anyway.

How long had it been since she had walked away from Tiger Beatdown after they'd fought? What had they even fought about? She couldn't remember it now, and whatever it had been she was sure she could move past. She had to talk to him before she lost her mind and died of this illness. If she could just tell him she was sorry for being so stubborn, she'd be okay with dying. He deserved an apology and the truth. Arm over arm she continued through the vents until she felt them tilting upward. The light of the desert sun shone through a grate and gave her hope of an exit.

It looked like some kind of exhaust tunnel the more she moved and without fear of being heard since it'd been a long while since she'd seen any grates leading into the facility, Disco kicked open the grate and crawled out into the sunlight. Initially she welcomed the warmth of the day onto her skin. She'd never been one to enjoy the desert heat, but it was better than the sterile chill of the torture chamber she'd just fled.

Legs barely supporting her, she ran through the sand the best that she could. She had no idea where in the California desert she was, but by the location of the sun now setting far in the west she could tell which way she had to go to get back to the camp. The heat was unbearable and the further Disco walked to safety the weaker she felt. The fear that she was so far into the zones that she could be breathing in the odorless toxins crept through her and she hummed to keep the thought at bay.

_No one would blame you if you passed out after that. Think of what you've gone through today! Any lesser person would've curled up in fetal position and cried._ She had to trudge on if she wanted to be found, despite the pain. If she passed out, it was likely no one would find her or worse the Widow would find her out in the desert. Once they realized she was gone, it was only a matter of time before they went searching for her. She had a few precious hours if she was lucky. Knowing what she did, she was a liability if she ever made her way back to the Killjoys with the precious information.

_What if I'm in the sixth zone?_ The nightmarish thought crept back into her mind._ What if I'm being slowly poisoned and I don't even know it because I can't find my bearings? It doesn't matter what if. If you keep running to the west, then the toxic air won't matter. _

Minutes turned into hours and the sun descended past the horizon leaving the world in a hazy darkness. Disco's eyes didn't want to stay open now that the relief of darkness had begun to sooth them. She'd managed to pry the devices off of her eyes that Korse had placed there with the widow after she'd escaped into the desert. Maybe if she walked with her eyes closed she'd feel some kind of relief from the terror and the ache. The air that traveled through the vent she'd used to escape had left her eyes bloodshot and pained.

It couldn't hurt to just keep her eyes closed, so she let them. The initial burning of her dry lids being met with her body's natural moisture subsided into a sweet relief. Stumbling through the desert was the least of her concerns now. Before she'd realized it, her body had given into the exhaustion and the small comfort she'd found in closing her lids and she passed out face first in the sand.

* * *

><p>Black Cherrybomb hadn't guessed that Disco Bitch was the kind of woman to go out into the desert unprepared, wander off then not be able to make it back in one piece. In fact, it was something he'd been certain of when he'd set off earlier in the day and now as the sun sank beyond the hazy horizon, he continued to look for her. He was almost certain some kind of foul play had to have been involved for her to be gone this long during such a dire time. The woman was too damn proud to collapse in the desert and wait for someone to come to her rescue. Even if she had become completely dehydrated he was sure she would've trudged on until her feet couldn't carry her.<p>

He was certain that there was no chance that he was going to find her face down in the desert, begging for help. At least that was what he had expected when he'd set out earlier that morning. When he, in fact, did find her face down in the sand, even if she wasn't begging for help, he was still surprised. Cherrybomb ran over to the dark form of Disco Bitch lying in the sands, only half properly covered by her jacket. She was just outside of zone five, crossing into zone four and she hadn't been here a few hours earlier when Black Cherrybomb had investigated.

This had been his second run through of this area, and he would've noticed her the first time, he was sure of it. Carefully, he wrapped his arms around the woman and rolled her over onto her back, making sure she was covered up properly with the jacket afterward. Covering his mouth was the least he could do when he saw the state she was in now that he could get a proper look at her.

Cherrybomb got to his feet and walked away from her form in the sand for a moment, pushing his hair back and away from his face, trying to get a grip on himself. Worse for wear was a gentle way to describe her condition; needle marks and sores covered her form and her face was pained and distressed. _Someone tortured her. Shit._ Walking back to where she lay in the sand, Cherrybomb knelt down and pushed her hair back and out of her face. Pressing his index and middle fingers to the side of her neck he found her pulse, faint but steady and was immediately relieved.

"Lucky lady you are…" He whispered. Slowly, he tapped her cheek and attempted to wake her up. If she slept for too long, he was afraid that she wouldn't be able to wake back up. If he got her up and functioning now, he would at least have hope for her. How long had it been since she had water or food? And what the hell had happened to her to put her in this state? Someone had clearly attacked her, in fact, judging by the wounds on her wrists and the tears in her leggings around her ankles, he would've guessed she'd been imprisoned somewhere. "What did they do to you, love?"

Disco coughed suddenly and spat sand out of her mouth, lolling her head to the side uncontrollably, trying hopelessly to escape the discomfort she felt. After a moment of wondering what the hell was going on she dared to open her eyes. Someone was standing next to her. _Fuck, I passed out_._ When did that happen? Fuck! I had just closed my eyes, I wasn't supposed to pass out!_ Disco quickly sat upright and tried to scoot away from the man next to her, not bothering to check who it was but realizing after a moment why he seemed so familiar.

"God damnit Cherrybomb, you scared the hell out of me!"

"Well, you're welcome for finding you and waking you up." Cherrybomb cocked an eyebrow then opened the canteen he brought with him that was filled with water and offered it to her. Disco looked hesitant but took the canteen after a moment and took a long drink from it, her body greedy for hydration. Throat burning, she drank as much as she could in hopes of getting rid of the foul taste the gas that had been pumped into her lungs had left behind.

"Sorry, I'm a little on edge." Disco spoke after a moment, water dripping from her dry and cracked lips.

"…what the hell happened to you, Disco?" Black Cherrybomb leaned forward with curiosity and gently touched over the marks on her wrists, and the holes in her arm that looked unmistakably like needle marks. Disco yanked her arm away from his touch and narrowed her eyes at him.

_Who the hell is he to touch me like I'm some kind of experiment? Useless man, all he does is flirt anyway! I shouldn't waste my time with him. Kill him now, kill him so that no one else will find you and you don't have to deal with him._ Freezing in place, realizing the betrayal of her own thoughts, Disco nearly choked at the weight of the revelation in her mind. _That's not me. That's not me at all. What did they do to me?_

"I'm sorry… You look like you've been through an ordeal, I'm just curious. If you're not ready to talk about it then I understand that. I just want to be able to help you in any way I can." Cherrybomb could sense she was leery of his touch and nervous about sharing her story, but he had to know. If she was in serious condition he needed to convince her to let him carry her back to the third zone to get help.

"I know and I'm sorry about this, Cherrybomb." The sigh she released did nothing to relieve the tension gripping her as she had hoped it would. "There's a facility out in the fifth zone. It's underground, buried in the sand Cherrybomb. It's called A-WEB and I found it and blacked out and when I woke up…" Disco faded off as she spoke and thought about the horrible room again. Almonds. She could still smell them from the gas they pumped into her lungs.

Cherrybomb's mouth was moving, at least she thought it had been but she couldn't hear what he was saying. Her head tilted to the side and she squinted her eyes to try and make out what he was saying by reading his lips. _Why is he talking like that? He sounds muffled and distant, like on a radio covered by a pillow. _Everything slowly spun around her in circles so she tried close her eyes and steady her equilibrium. Then she heard it: the laughter. The laughter coming from the lips of the man in front of her. They didn't match his mouth movements but it had to be coming from him, where else could it be coming from?

_You're losing it Disco._ Vaguely, the thought crossed her mind that she'd already begun her descent into madness, but she was thinking just fine. Clearly, everything else was going mad, not her. It was the only thing that made sense.

"What's wrong with you, Cherrybomb? Stop laughing at me!" Disco shouted out of frustration.

"What? What are you talking about?" Cherrybomb stopped short during his speech about what could have happened to her, about why she was afraid to talk to him. He'd come up with a thousand theories in his head as to what had happened down below in the Better Living facility in zone five. When she hadn't answered him right away he'd decided she was nervous and had started to babble on about what they could do to do once they'd gotten back to the eastern Killjoy camp. But now she was yelling at him. "I wasn't laughing at you, not at all. Disco, darling, what's wrong? Are you having a problem with your hearing? You were pretty out of it for awhile you know." Cherrybomb offered her a smile but it was not well received as he had hoped it would be.

"You're mocking me… After all I went through and you're mocking me!" Disco groped around her in the dirt for something, anything she could use against Cherrybomb. _Damn, not having my fucking gun._

"I'm not mocking you! I would never do that to you! Disco, what's wrong? What did they do to you?" Cherrybomb realized what she was doing a split second too late. Leaping on top of him, Disco Bitch had found a large stone in the sand and smashed it against the side of his head twice, as hard as she could muster. Cherrybomb's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell backwards in the sand with a thud.

_Is he bleeding enough? That's what he gets for mocking me, that's what he gets for trying to get me to trust him with my secrets! Why would I tell him what happened to me? Why does he need to know? What happened to me there anyway? Why is it such a big deal? I think I rather like it._

Disco stared down at the fading eyes of Black Cherrybomb and in a moment of clarity gasped, realizing the severity of what she'd done. The rock in her hand was stained with blood so she dropped it and reached to check his pulse very quickly. _Please, please don't be dead. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. God what was I doing? Of course he wasn't laughing at me. Of course he was trying to help me! Fuck!_ His pulse was there, strong and steady. Luckily she'd just knocked him unconscious.

"Oh God, what did I do? What did I do?" Creeping away from the body of her friend, Disco tripped in the sand and scooted backwards and away from the man. _He's unconscious. Leave him here, no one will know it was you if you just leave him here. But he'll die! He'll die all alone and bleed to death in the desert, I can't just leave him! He deserved to die. Every single one of them deserves to die. Go back to the camp, bleed them all dry. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy. _

"No!" Her voice cracked as she yelled, scooting further away from Black Cherrybomb in the dirt. "I can't!" It was clear she wasn't going to gain any control over the madness overwhelming her. The only thing she could think to do was to run as far into the zones as she could before the madness consumed her. If she could get to the seventh zone, she'd choke to death. The fear of suffocating somehow seemed less significant when she thought about how she might be the end of all of her friends.

Stumbling to her feet, Disco turned on her heels and started further east, the direction she'd come from. If she could stay focused on this one goal of getting herself far from the camp and her friends, perhaps she'd manage to stay sane until the moment she choked to death in the zones.

The hiss of pistons reached her ears and she froze, standing still in the sand. Was she imagining that horrific sound from the spider woman in her torturous prison? How was she supposed to know what was real and what was in her head? Perhaps that was what made her crazy, the inability to separate fiction from reality.

Turning back to take one last look at Black Cherrybomb, Disco Bitch inhaled sharply and choked on the air she took in as she found herself face to face with the Scarecrow and he didn't look happy. Not that he ever looked happy, but he was looking crankier than usual. There was a glimmer in his eyes that scared Disco Bitch into place.

"Where did you think you were going? We're not done with you quite yet." His menacing tone let her know he didn't actually _want_ an answer or expect one.

"J-just kill me. I won't do this for you. I'll fight you tooth and nail."

"You don't have a choice." Korse didn't bother pulling his ray gun out, almost as an insult to the woman. Disco Bitch hadn't felt this helpless since her days as a drunken mechanic, falling over herself while working. Korse was staring her down, convinced that she wasn't going to be able to defend herself.

"I do have a choice, damnit!" Disco shouted defiantly but her thoughts were betraying her words even as she spoke them. Before she could get out another sentence, the familiar hiss of pistons releasing steam started up again from behind her. Just in time to see the clawed legs of the Widow coming down on her, Disco turned and screamed in horror. The Widow's pincers pulled her up by her jacket and off of the ground. A cold, sticky binding material Disco didn't recognize was spilling out of the spider woman's legs and covering her body. The only thing Disco could compare it to was the webbing of a cocoon. Her body didn't have the will to fight and the film completely consumed her in a short time.

Cherrybomb opened his eyes, his head swimming and aching from the blow he'd taken. The idea of getting up and moving around was unappealing so he merely turned his head to the side to observe his surroundings. Where had Disco gone? Why had she attacked him like that so suddenly? Clearly Better Living had done something to her in that facility she had mentioned but what was it? He'd never seen anyone look at him like that before, with the blank stare of nothing in their mind. Even with that mad arsonist, he could see the gears turning behind her eyes.

Squinting, Cherrybomb noticed something a few yards in the distance. The shadow of a spider was hovering over two forms, leading them further into the zones. _A spider? What?_ Cherrybomb wiped his eye lazily, but only managed to smear the blood from his forehead into it, making it sting. Even when he'd regained his vision, he could still see the outline of the spider which meant only one thing: it had to be real.

"Disco!" His voice came out as a struggled whisper and he forced himself into a sitting position. The world spun around him in objection to his motions and he immediately leaned forward to vomit. He was in no condition to follow after her but he couldn't let that monster just take her away. Stumbling a few steps forward was all he managed to do before he lost his balance and fell into the sand. The outline of his vision blackened and blurred until there was nothing left but the darkness protecting him from the pain of his head wound.

* * *

><p>"Fun Ghoul, Neon Acid, do you two have a moment?" Party Poison cleared his throat as he approached the two. He had spent the remainder of the night planning out drastic changes for his Killjoys and now that morning had come he was prepared to start implementing them. Phoenix Fury was already waiting behind him with crossed arms, wondering what the hell the red head wanted now. Somewhere deep down, Phoenix had known that him getting out of prison so easily had to have been some kind of ploy.<p>

Fun Ghoul and Neon Acid joined Party Poison after a moment of whispering amongst themselves. Both of them were eyeing Phoenix Fury warily and wondering what Poison could possibly want from them.

"What do you need Poison?" Fun Ghoul asked, averting his eyes. It was clear he still felt guilty and responsible for the Dracs having killed themselves in the middle of the night. Even though Poison didn't blame him in the slightest, Fun Ghoul had always been the type to carry that weight on his shoulders.

"Just come here for a second and listen." Poison turned between the three Killjoys so he could see them all. "Phoenix Fury, with his _attempt_ at mutiny has brought it to my attention that there are some deep flaws in our system."

"Yeah, to say the least…" Phoenix muttered beneath his breath.

"Whatever, you still lost." Poison rolled his eyes and continued on. "As I was _saying_, there are some glaring errors in the way we keep tabs on our men and women here. I want them repaired. The old files need to be gone through and reorganized. Killjoys need to have a chat with people I trust and have their information taken down once again and of course, they need to be questioned about this turn of events that's taken place here. I don't want _anyone_ who is unsure of being a Killjoy to be one either. This isn't an organization where you can only _kinda_ have faith in what we're doing. It's all or nothing here and if some of our members need more time to figure that out then they need to be given that time elsewhere. Those unsure of what we're doing are doing nothing but putting the rest of us in danger. I was shocked to find out how quickly people believed the lies spreading through this place."

"You do realize that after what happened that could mean you might lose a lot of Killjoys. Your numbers could even be cut in half." Phoenix was surprised that Party Poison was going for this course of action. He'd expected nothing to change, but here the man was surprising him again.

"Yeah, I do realize that dipshit, any other obvious statements you'd like to make before I continue on?" Party Poison didn't have to _like _Phoenix Fury to respect him.

"Nope, just the one." Phoenix Fury gave a dimpled smirk and crossed his arms over his chest.

"So…" Neon Acid tried to bring the conversation back on track. "What is it you want us to do then?"

"I need the troops to be alerted and to be interviewed. I need someone who is going to fill the Killjoys with inspiration again to help me out while I'm running the show." Poison turned his gaze to Phoenix Fury who looked surprised and actually glanced around him for someone close by he could be referring to and then pointed at himself.

"…you want me to do it?" Disbelief was still thick in Phoenix's voice.

"I do."

"Poison, he nearly killed you… several times. He sent troops of Killjoys after you to murder you no matter the cost! His men were _killed_ going after you by Better Living and he didn't care!" Fun Ghoul didn't find this situation humorous in the least. "Why the hell would you choose him? Out of all the people here!"

"I know that."

"He's got a point." Phoenix shrugged. He wasn't going to lie about the situation. "Though I won't say I didn't care that they died when I, in fact, did care a great deal. I told them to be discreet and they didn't follow orders. Actually, I ordered my men to bring you in alive if they could but instead they chose to have your head."

"Well, they didn't even try to take me in alive, for the record. They told me to come out with my hands up so they could blow my brains in." Party Poison clarified but then cleared his throat. "I get what you're saying. I do. But you're ignoring all the good things that Phoenix Fury has done. He's obviously passionate about our cause and as much as you and I may not like him he's good at getting those around him to follow him. Your passion and your love for this rebellion are _contagious_ and if anyone can rally my troops and convince them to commit once again to the Killjoys I think it's you."

"You do realize those loyal to you are likely going to spit in my face." Phoenix Fury shifted his feet nervously.

"What, are you suddenly scared?"

"No." Phoenix Fury straightened his back and resumed looking tough. "I'm just saying that it's not going to be easy."

"Neither was trying to overthrow me." Poison said resolutely.

"You're really sure about this." Fun Ghoul furrowed his brow, his face clearly showing his distaste for the entire situation.

"Yeah. Neon Acid, Fun Ghoul, you're going to help him out… And Phoenix Fury you are going to listen to every little fucking word of advice that they give you. I suggest you get to know each other for a few hours."

"I can't trust him after what he did to you." Neon Acid was visually shooting daggers at Phoenix Fury.

"I trust him, so you shouldn't have a problem." Party Poison turned to her and looked at her seriously. "No one has any right to be angry about what he did to _me_ other than me. You can be pissed that he brought Dracs in, you can be pissed that he made such chaos of our camp but you cannot be pissed because of what he did to me. He thought he was going after a corrupt as fuck asshole who deserved that kind of punishment so I can't blame him. I could only hope that if I was as big of a dick as he believed I was, that you would come after me too." Neon Acid hung her head and averted her eyes. Phoenix Fury couldn't hide the dumbfounded look on his face and stood practically slack-jawed.

"You really believe that?"

"Yeah, I do. And you know what? Besides the obvious bullshit you brought a lot of really negative shit to my attention that I'd glanced over for years. This place isn't a fucking social club, this is a cause and a lot of people here are just in it for the glory of being a Killjoy." Poison continued on. _Phoenix hasn't been the only one to shove that in my face. Fire Frenzy's been practically screaming it at me since the second I met her. I didn't believe it until Phoenix Fury put me in my place though._ "I want to bring this place back to what it was when it was first formed. We're here to stop Better Living Industries and that's what we're going to do. We're going to give people a chance to really _live_."

"I'm on board." Phoenix was back to that cocky dimpled smile of his that Party Poison hated so damn much. _Snarky bastard. He's way too much like me for his own good._ "That's if you two can trust me long enough to follow me. I know you've been Killjoys under Party Poison much longer than I have but if I'm willing to give a man that I was hunting down to kill a chance, then perhaps you could do the same for me?" Fun Ghoul and Neon Acid exchanged wary glances once more. There was an unspoken understanding between them and they nodded their heads.

"Fine, we'll do this. We'll give you a chance." Neon Acid forced a smile.

"But if you step one toe out of line, you green haired little shit, I'll put you in your place." Fun Ghoul threatening the man who was almost an entire foot taller than him was funny to begin with but Phoenix Fury didn't make light of the smaller man's threat.

"I would hope that if I stepped out of line, you would." Phoenix Fury extended a hand for Fun Ghoul to shake and the smaller man did after a moment of hesitation.

"Ah, the animosity of cooperation." Poison scoffed and patted both men on the shoulder. "Neon Acid, don't let this turn into a pissing contest."

"I'll make sure it doesn't." The girl saluted Party Poison then took both men by the arm. "Come on boys, this way to the records room. We'll do small groups at a time." Poison watched the group walk off, planning and communicating despite their reluctance to work together. It was good to see Killjoys working together in the face of adversity. If they could learn to confront the things they didn't exactly like and overcome them then maybe there was hope for them yet. These little annoyances has been ignored over the years and that's where they'd started to lose their cause. The hardest route was usually the right one.

"Poison." He turned immediately, hearing the sound of Agent Alpaca behind him. Disappointment rushed through him seeing that it was just Tiger Beatdown and Agent Alpaca. Disco Bitch was nowhere to be seen. There was a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him they didn't find the woman they were looking for. Real worry was starting to get to him.

"You didn't find her?" Poison voiced his thoughts.

"Not a single trace of her." Tiger looked downtrodden and exhausted. Poison guessed he hadn't been sleeping very well. _I know that I haven't been either. Since the woman he's clearly head over heels in love with has disappeared into the desert, he has a far better reason than I do to not be sleeping._

"We searched almost the entire fourth zone but this is unfamiliar territory for us. I don't know where we're going half the time and we kept getting turned around. This damn desert all looks the same." Agent Alpaca was frustrated that his usually spectacular sense of direction was failing him. "Perhaps a map of the zone would help when we go back out."

"I can get that for you but… where is Black Cherrybomb?" Poison looked behind them. He'd hoped that the man would catch up with Tiger and Alpaca and guide them through the desert but now it looked like he hadn't bothered to return. _I know the guy can take care of himself but, hell, why do I get this sickening feeling that something is actually wrong with the fact he hasn't returned? There's more to this than meets the eye._

"What about him? Isn't he here with you?" Tiger Beatdown seemed irritated that the conversation had shifted away from the missing woman.

"After you left yesterday he asked permission to go search for Disco since he knew the zones out here better than you did. He told me he'd be back by morning and here we are. He's not back yet." Poison grimaced, folding his arms over his chest. "I sent him out with flares, if something went wrong then he should've thrown them up by now."

"Maybe he's not coming back at all. He's not a Killjoy, how can you trust him anyway?" Agent Alpaca objected.

"How can you not? He helped break you out of here at the risk of his own neck, offered to go out after Disco Bitch even though it wasn't his responsibility and I never would've asked it of him. Besides, he wanted to join the Killjoys again. We talked about it before he left." Poison was tired of all of the distrust but at the same time felt his own level of paranoia still incredibly high. All of the people around him suddenly seemed like strangers he shouldn't trust with his thoughts.

"So what are you thinking then?" Tiger Beatdown spoke before Alpaca got the chance, knowing it'd turn into a fight if he let the man interject.

"Disco wouldn't have wandered so far that she'd pass out like an idiot in the desert with no water. And Cherrybomb wouldn't have done that either. He's trying to earn my trust, I can tell, and he would've returned by morning as promised. I think something stopped him from coming back. I think something stopped her too."

"Well in that case we need to get back out there." Party Poison nodded resolutely. "I'm going with you this time on the search. Stock up on supplies again and get ready to leave. I might not be able to get away immediately but it won't take me more than a couple of hours. Plus, it'll be faster in my car." Poison was excited to get back in his car since he'd found that Phoenix's men had retrieved it from the second zone after the ambush on him.

"Poison!" Jet-Star was running to catch up to him and he hunched over to catch his breath. "I need your help, do you have a few minutes?"

"Actually I don't, what do you need? I'll find someone to help you."

"Neon Rocket and Cosmic Karma are busy, I just need someone to help me out. Kobra's out of control. I basically need someone to hold him down while I take care of him." Jet-Star was out of breath. Poison stared at his friend for a moment, unsure of how to respond. He was torn between his duties to help his men and the news of his ailing brother. _If I go to help Jet then I'm going to end up retreating so fucking far into my head that I might not be lucky enough to crawl the hell back out this time. But if I ignore it and go with Tiger and Alpaca to find Disco then I'm going to fucking think about Kobra the whole fucking time. Between this and that stupid bitch walking out, I'm going to be the one who loses their fucking mind._

"…Poison?" Tiger saw his friend lost in thought and tried to get his attention.

"I'll help him." Agent Alpaca volunteered. The three men looked to him in surprise. "What? Is it so hard to think that I'd help someone out for once?"

"…yes." Tiger smiled for the first time since he'd fought with Disco and watched her walk away.

"There's not going to be enough room in the car for me anyway if you're going to find Disco Bitch and Cherrybomb and drive them back here. I'm decent with the health shit, so I will help out Jet-Star as much as I can and try to keep people here level headed since you Killjoys seem to let your heads drift into the clouds half the fucking time." Alpaca added.

"Ah, that sounds more like you." Tiger chuckled then looked to Jet-Star. "Is that alright? He's abrasive, but he's honest about being good at first aid."

"Yes, that's perfect." Jet-Star patted Party Poison on the shoulder. "His blood pressure is back up, don't freak out. Come on Alpaca." Agent Alpaca followed Jet-Star back toward the infirmary.

"Okay, so give me a few minutes to get ready Tiger." Poison managed to find his words again after a moment of staring at Jet-Star's form running away. Tiger nodded his head then walked away to gather supplies for their trip. Walking through the camp back toward his home in the center Party Poison stopped short, seeing Cosmic Karma sitting with a hysterical Rainbow Riot. Curiosity got the best of him and he slowly approached them, keeping quiet so he could overhear the conversation. _It may be snooping, but sometimes you have to snoop to find the truth._

"He promised he'd go with me to look for Venom in the City…" Rainbow Riot was fighting tears, Poison could hear the quivering in her voice.

"You can't go after him on your own. If Cherrybomb promised to go with you then I'm sure that he will. He hasn't gotten back from looking for Disco Bitch yet so give him another day." Karma whispered in a consoling voice

"What if Venom doesn't have another day? What if it's already too late and he's dead?" Riot was leaning across the table and speaking in a hushed and panicked tone.

"I think you're hysterical with worry. Vengeful Venom can take care of himself, you told me that earlier. What is it that's really bothering you? There has to be more to this. You know he escaped the Dracs on his own without anybody's help and he can do it again. I think that he is going to be careful and he's going to do it for you. So tell me, spill it. What is it?"

"I shouldn't tell you…" Rainbow Riot shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked down at the ground.

"I think I already know. Just say it. I need to hear it from you."

"I'm pregnant." Rainbow Riot whispered after a moment.

"You can't go into the City by yourself if you are. Have you seen a doctor? Are you sure you are and it isn't just hormones making you this upset?" Cosmic Karma sighed with relief, having guessed that the woman was pregnant after spending a few hours getting to know her.

"Yeah, I'm more than positive. I'm three months along. I'm not… showing yet. I haven't seen a proper doctor." Riot touched her stomach protectively.

"We aren't equipped for a baby here but I know that Jet-Star would make accommodations for you if you told him. Look, Vengeful Venom wouldn't want you running into danger."

"Damn right he wouldn't." Poison finally decided to join the conversation. "You're going to talk to Jet-Star when he's done dealing with Kobra Kid, okay? You need to take care of yourself. Running into the City is reckless and stupid. You're going to get yourself and your kid killed running around like that."

"I'm not a Killjoy, you can't tell me what to do." Riot whispered under her breath.

"I'm not saying it as a Killjoy. I'm saying it as a friend. Venom was an idiot for walking away from you but you'd be a bigger idiot going after him. Karma, I'm going to trust you to keep her here." Rainbow Riot went to object but the three of them jumped at the sound of screeching tires and laser fire.

"What the hell?" Cosmic Karma made a face of disapproval, looking around for the source. Party Poison didn't wait and ran to the front gates where the sound came from. There was a car and bike he recognized parked in front of the camp, both adorned with a pirates jolly roger.

"I want to see Party Poison or Jet-Star _right now_!" The woman with the curly, immaculate purple and black hair and eye patch over her left eye was holding a gun in her hand and aiming at the head of one of the Killjoys in front of her. She had a group of three Killjoys behind her, all aiming their own weapons. "Don't _talk to me_ unless the next words out of your mouth are _yes, one moment while I find Party Poison, Captain Phantom_ got it?" Phantom's guns turned to Party Poison as she spied him moving on her right side. "Don't move!"

"What the hell is going on?" Party Poison walked forward. "Phantom, Cutlass… What's going on?" Captain Phantom didn't put her gun down but narrowed her eyes at Party Poison, as if to scrutinize if it was really him or not. Her twin brother, Commander Cutlass walked up to her and leaned close to speak. Standing next to Phantom, he looked like he'd just rolled out of bed in comparison.

"…that's really Poison, maybe we should put down the guns." Cutlass waved tentatively with the hand not holding his ray gun. "Ahoy!"

"Not until he tells me what the hell happened here!" Phantom wasn't going to let her guard down quite as easily as her brother. Poison noticed they were looking worse for wear. Captain Phantom was covered in bruises but her wounds didn't seem to bother her enough to drop the weapon she was holding onto for dear life. Commander Cutlass was limping slightly as he walked and seemed to have taken a few good punches.

"I'm not sure you would believe me if I could." Poison slowly approached the two with caution. "How about you tell _me_ what happened to you. I've been hoping to hear from you."

"Potential Killjoys came by my camp at night after a raid looking to join our ranks a few days ago. I let them rest, as I always do before I bring them to you to sign up, and in the middle of the night they tied up me and my crew. Two of them were Dracs, Poison! What are you playing at? They said something about the Killjoys falling!"

"Well, that's _partially_ true. Wait… wait you said there were Dracs?" Poison couldn't help but smirk a little bit. _If only she didn't kill them, which I'm unsure of if she would. _

"Oh wipe that stupid smile off of your face, Poison! Yes, I said Dracs! Are you going to tell me what's going on yet?"

"Are they alive?"

"Yeah, barely." Commander Cutlass chimed in, hoping that Poison would soon quell his sister's rage.

"I wouldn't let them kill the Dracs…" Bad Medicine, the mousy brunette girl standing near the car added in. She was the doctor the pirate twins kept on hand with their crew and at that moment, Poison could kiss her.

"Believe me I wanted to." Phantom lowered her weapon and put it back in its holster. "What the hell happened here? Why are Dracs disguising themselves as Killjoys? Is this some kind of sick fucking test?"

"Because they're a lot fucking smarter than we thought they were to begin with." Poison shook his head. "Come on, get in here and calm down. I'll explain what happened as we walk. It's too long of a story for me to tell you while you're standing here aiming a gun at me." Poison and Phantom discussed the events that had taken place during the week prior. It took a good twenty minutes just spent with Poison talking to explain the complications of the current situation.

"But, I'm relieved you have some living Dracs with you. If you don't mind, I'd like Jet-Star to take a look at them when he gets the chance."

"You're going to let them live aren't you?" Phantom grimaced. Better Living had been responsible for the death of her and Cutlass' parents years ago and she was loath to let a Drac go unscathed.

"Now, I didn't say that." Poison crossed his arms. "I'm not going to go out of my way to kill them but I would like a chance to interrogate them and try to find out what the fuck is going on in the outer zones. I have a feeling that someone knows where Korse is going out there, and I want to get a chance to find out before they try to off themselves again."

"Or before Phantom gets a chance to off them again. She's been itching to since we got free." Cutlass added in.

"You can interrogate them and let Jet-Star look at them on one condition." Phantom turned to the man she had trusted for years. Her nerves were still on edge, it was hard to drop it after having gone through such an ordeal. The Dracs had meant to kill them, even if the other Killjoys with them hadn't. If Phantom had her way, she'd like to knock out a few of the teeth of this Phoenix Fury guy too if she got the chance or at the very least, give him a piece of her mind.

"What condition?" Poison had a feeling he knew what the woman was going to say, but wanted to hear it from her anyway.

"You let me and Cutlass deal with them after you're done interrogating them." Phantom looked dead serious. Poison had to consider this carefully. He'd always been adamantly against outright _killing_ the Dracs. He felt that it made the Killjoys just as bad as Better Living Industries. Years ago, he'd had hoped that he could decontaminate them but all of his work had always failed and ended in death or escape; and escape had usually ended up in retaliation and more death. Poison was weighing the proposition in his mind when Cutlass spoke up.

"We'd like to sit in on the interrogation too."

"_I'd_ like to sit in on the interrogation." Phantom clarified. "I'd like Cutlass and the rest of my crew to visit your medics and get their wounds taken care of before they get infected."

"I'm not doing anything like that until I know what the Dracs have to say. Besides, nothing on me is infected." Cutlass grimaced. Phantom was a few minutes older than him but sometimes it seemed as though she had a few years on him, at least in her mentality.

"Fine, but the rest of the crew will get medical attention." Phantom hissed to Cutlass, clearly not in the mood to argue with her brother. "Poison, do we have a deal?"

"Yeah." Poison nodded after a moment's more thought. It was worth practically signing the Dracs' death certificates in order to get this information from them. "Yeah, we have a deal. Get the Dracs into the jail, and don't leave them alone. They're sneaky as fuck. We don't know what they used to kill themselves last time but they'll have to be strip searched. Screaming Extinction will help you out with it. He's been keeping guard at the jail all day."

"Thank you." Phantom exhaled deeply and seemed to relax the tension in her shoulders for the first time since Poison had seen her in front of the camp. "Cutlass, bring the Dracs to the jail like Poison asked please. Tell Bad Medicine and the others to head to the infirmary to get looked at."

"Can do!" Cutlass turned on his heels and walked back toward the entrance to the camp to do as he was asked to.

"So, Poison. What's the next step for you?" Phantom asked, crossing her arms. "Are you doing the interrogating, or are you leaving that to Jet-Star?"

"I'm going with Tiger into the desert to search for Disco Bitch and Black Cherrybomb, just for the afternoon. Jet-Star is in charge while I'm gone but Phoenix Fury is running some things now too. So… if you can, try not to break his nose or something."

"You're letting that asshole _help_?" Phantom sneered in disapproval. "After all the grief he's caused?"

"Yeah, I am. He _is _an asshole but he's good at what he does. I'd rather him be on our side than be on the enemy's side."

"Fine. I don't agree with you, but I trust your judgment and I _reluctantly_ agree not to break his nose." Phantom gave a half-hearted smile. "You know, Party Poison… this has been a momentous event, this past week. When you're done here you could get it all commemorated in some ink... so you'll never forget." Phantom pointed to her own tattoo on her chest. She'd been trying to convince Poison to get tattooed for years but had never been successful due to his irrational fear of needles.

"You can ink me when I'm a cold dead corpse." Poison scrunched his face up in disapproval. "Don't kill the Dracs before you get as much information as you can. I will radio in every few hours to Jet-Star just so everyone will know we're alright." Poison walked away from Captain Phantom without another word and found Tiger Beatdown not too far from where he was standing.

"I heard the commotion with Phantom, is everything alright? She sounded angry as hell."

"We've got some Dracs again, thanks to those crafty fucking pirates. Let's get out of here and find Disco and Cherrybomb." Poison didn't want to waste any more time on explanations. The sun was already high in the sky and it'd be night again before they knew it. The longer they let Disco remain missing, the less of a chance they'd have of finding her.


	25. Striking the Match

Her head was pounding far more than she was used to. The pain had started out dull twenty or so minutes ago and increased to a sharp stabbing jolt that she couldn't ignore. It was the last thing she wanted to be greeted with upon waking. Frenzy shifted uncomfortably, feeling something soft beneath her body which wasn't what she'd expected considering all that had happened before she'd blacked out. An aching pain rushed through her entirety upon making that very small movement on the something soft.

Every inch of her was burning and tingling with pain and ache. The parching thirst in her throat was unnatural and causing her airways to swell. If she didn't know any better she would've sworn that the pounding in her head was stronger than the one in her heart. Withdrawal. It hadn't been this bad in years. She'd seen to it that she was never without her pills for more than twelve hours since the last time she'd spent a week getting sick without them. Every bit of her was burning and the more she became aware of her body again, the more she began to shake. Sweat was dripping down her forehead, trickling down her neck and over her shoulders.

_I can't just lay here. I've got to get up. I've got to get the hell up, take charge, escape and find my fucking stash and save that kid if she's still alive._ The only thing Frenzy could think about was the drugs. She wanted the pills, the pain killers, in her system to relieve the ache that seemed worse than it had ever been. Her stomach was sick and the urge to throw up had to be resisted with every bit of strength she had. Frenzy moved her arms up to brush her sweaty hair out of her face and blinked her eyes open. Her arms and legs were both free, but bare. There was no way she could have been a prisoner, no one had tried to tie her down and if they knew _anything_ about her they would've had her shackled and muzzled.

It took all of Frenzy's strength to pull herself into a sitting position. The room was hazy and fuzzy and despite her sweating she felt cold and achy, which were the sure signs of a fever. Half her clothing was missing, but she didn't look too hard for it either. Undergarments were more than she needed for right now and she'd never been the type to care about what others saw outside of the scars on her leg. Someone had taken the time to carefully clean her wounds and wrap them up. The bandages looked fresh, as if they had been changed recently. Who had taken care of her?

Perhaps it had been the person who she'd seen firing the lasers just before she'd fallen unconscious. She could only hope they were a friend and not some sick fuck living in the city who had a vigilante complex. Though grateful for her mysterious savior having taken such good care of her wounds, Frenzy had other plans. Slowly she managed to get each of her limbs to cooperate with her and slipped off of the bed. The room didn't house much else, she observed. There were stacks of books along the wall; books she could tell had been banned by Better Living a long time ago. They were books she'd long desired to read herself. With any luck she'd steal a few later if she got the chance.

_First things first. I need a gun._ Managing to miraculously keep her balance, Frenzy stood and searched the room. Silently she slipped open the singular night stand on the right side of the bed and in the drawer found just what she was looking for. A dark blue and red ray gun was lying there amongst men's clothing, just waiting for her to take it. Wrapping her fingers around the handle of the gun, she checked to make sure it was charged and functional. Creeping forward, she moved toward the singular door in the room. Her breath was haggard and the more she moved the more she felt the familiar panic of an anxiety attack taking over. _I won't let it get the best of me, but whoever is in here with me is sure going to be fucking sorry._

Someone was humming a familiar song in the other room. The main room of the apartment was a small living room, furnished properly even if it looked rather untouched. Frenzy turned to see the door she'd come out of could be easily hidden behind a bookcase and had several locks on it to prevent someone from entering. _If someone is trying to keep me prisoner, they are either the most lenient jailer in existence or the stupidest psychopath ever._ The image would've been comical if Frenzy hadn't been trying so hard to resist the urge to vomit.

Her leg was in such crippling pain that it threatened to collapse with each step and the right leg she usually relied on to get her going from one place to the other wasn't fairing too well either. Destroyer had bitten her there, that much she remembered. _Wouldn't surprise me if that fucker was venomous too and that's why it hurts so goddamn badly. That'd be just my luck._

The carpet beneath her feet was making her feet itchy and uncomfortable as she stepped forward and the crinkle of every fiber of the carpet made her want to hide in the corner and cover her ears to block it out. Frenzy fought the urge to curl up and plead for the drugs her body needed and crept further through what she had now assumed was an apartment, given the size and feel of it.

It sounded like someone was in the kitchen and which also seemed to be the source of something that smelled disgusting. It could've just been food, and it very likely was, but the smell made Frenzy want to vomit. With her left hand, Frenzy covered her nose and mouth to keep from inhaling the scent of whatever was cooking. She held up the gun with her right hand and walked up to the man standing in front of the stove who seemed blissfully unaware of her existence considering he was still humming to himself.

The gap between her and the man at the stove seemed to take forever to cross but she made it undetected and placed the barrel of the gun against his back. She wasn't going to strain her already weak limbs by aiming it as his head when he was much taller than her. Words seemed unnecessary, the gun in his back surely made her point in a way that words wouldn't. Frenzy wasn't sure she could manage enough words to make sense without vomiting anyway, so it seemed best to avoid the situation.

The man at the stove froze, feeling the familiar shape of the barrel of a gun poking at his spine through the cotton of his shirt. He reached quickly and turned off the gas burner on the stove to prevent explosion then spoke calmly. Having hoped the woman would wait to wake up until he'd made some food had been a mistake on his part. Keeping an eye on her had been his one priority for the last few days and naturally she'd wake up the moment he stepped away to eat and take care of himself. He had figured since she hadn't stirred in so long, he could steal twenty minutes to grab something more to eat than stale crackers.

"My name is Death-iNation." The man began, turning his head to the side to keep an eye on the petite woman behind him. He knew she'd want an explanation right away and hoped that by making the first move, he could avoid further hostility. Frenzy could see his handsome profile and blue eyes but kept the gun pointed at his back even though his name immediately got her thinking of the letters she'd read. _Is he really the one who was writing those letters to Poison? How fucking convenient._

"I'm a sleeper cell for the Killjoys and I've been working for Better Living for two years." The man continued on in hopes of calming her down. Frenzy pressed the gun harder into his spine and he turned his head away again, realizing eye contact wasn't helping his case. _Why is it always much harder to think clearly when there's a gun pressed against your back?_ "I know you must be scared since you don't know where you are right now. But you have nothing to fear from me, I promise. Those letters you had in your pocket, the ones that were addressed to Party Poison? I wrote them, in case you didn't realize that already when I told you my name." The woman still didn't seem to have a response, nor did she lower the gun.

"Since I don't recognize you as a Killjoy, I'm assuming you stole those letters from Poison or you're relatively new to the crew. What the hell happened out there? I've been trying to make contact for almost a month with no response. Have the Killjoys actually fallen to the Dracs? No… That can't be right. Better Living would've said something about that in the press. Having captured the greatest terrorist threat Battery City has ever seen? Surely they'd celebrate such a thing." Death-iNation's voice was thick with sarcasm and disdain for Better Living.

This man wasn't like the other Killjoys that Frenzy had met in the past week or even prior to that. He was well educated in a way that they weren't, or at least in a way they hadn't shown. Not to say that the Killjoys she'd met were stupid, but they cursed and swore in nearly every sentence and made themselves sound less educated. This man had a very proper way of speaking and she guessed his thirst for knowledge was far greater than any of the Killjoys in the camp.

"Okay, so you clearly don't believe me yet…" Death-iNation became increasingly uncomfortable with the gun pressed into his back and it was clear he was growing impatient and trying to scrape for information to get her to back off. "I went dark when I hadn't heard from Poison in awhile… That's why you haven't seen or heard from me if you are indeed from the Killjoys. I had no choice. I didn't know what was going on with the Killjoys or what was compromised so I've been doing what I can to keep Killjoys still undercover in the City safe while trying to figure out what's going on out in the desert without making myself a target. I've stolen some equipment from Better Living and I'm keeping it hidden in my closet. It's a powerful radio transmitter and receiver. You see, it tells me whenever anyone breaks the perimeter and when Better Living is on the move. They don't know I have it, but it won't be more than another week before they realize it's missing and disable its signal."

"You see, that's how I found you… Miss Fire Frenzy." Death-iNation couldn't help but smile and made a noise of discomfort as Frenzy shoved the barrel of the gun further into his back to show him her irritation. It was almost as if she was asking how the hell he knew her name since she didn't carry an idea on her. "I'm sure you want to know why I know who you are. I'm afraid you've finally been identified to Better Living Industries. Of course, they already knew of you before by a vague description and occupation status but… now they know _all_ about you after your little escapade the other day."

"How'd you find me then?" Frenzy managed to whisper, not wanting to hear anymore about Better Living finally putting her face on a wanted poster. She had expected to be found out when she'd run into that theater without a proper plan but it didn't make her feel any less sour to hear about it actually happening. Her arm was growing tired and her body even weaker, but she kept the gun steady and pressed into his back and planned on doing so until she either passed out or received a response that alleviated her fear and paranoia.

"I got an alert on the radio transmitter that the perimeter was broken down by the theater by three small kids. I knew it had to be trouble since even the street kids know better than to break the perimeter unless they plan on never coming back into the City. Actually, believe it or not, I thought the Killjoys were planning an attack on the theater and sending in scouts since I'd hinted to Poison in my last transmission that the place was being used for experiments on the City's orphans."

"Poison never found your secret message on that flyer." Fire Frenzy was starting to relax her arm she held the gun with but didn't lose her aim. It was clear this man was the man he claimed to be but she wanted the rest of his explanation before she merely put the gun down and let him speak.

"Oh, is that right? I thought for sure he'd find it. He usually scrutinizes every bit of my letters. It used to be a joke that I'd leave invisible messages on the back of flyers. Why didn't he find it? If you don't mind my asking, that is? You still haven't told me what happened to the Killjoys and I'm incredibly curious to know the fate of my comrades in arms."

"You're not done."

"Oh yes, that's right. Sorry, how incredibly rude of me. I hurried to the perimeter and found the hellish chaos you caused in the parking lot with Destroyer and the rest of that nasty project. It seems he's got a taste for your blood now so you're going to have to be on your guard. When I got there he was hell bent on taking you away even if it meant defying his siblings. Luckily, the other two distracted him long enough for me to get a few good smoke grenades off and I was able to get you out of there in the confusion. I managed to snag your weapons from the car and got the hell out of there as quickly as I could. Afterward I got you back here, tended to your wounds, which were healing nicely the last time I'd checked, and well… to tell the truth I thought you weren't going to make it there for awhile since you'd lost so much blood but before I got to you but… Here we are. Though by the way your hands are shaking and how heavy your breathing is right now, I'd guess you're in a great deal of pain and suffering from withdrawal." Death-iNation seemed less nervous the more he continued to talk. In fact, Fire Frenzy thought he was sounding confident that she wasn't going to kill him despite the situation.

"How the hell did you come to _that_ conclusion?"

"I found the pills in your pocket, miss. I saw the twitching you did in your sleep and realized that you must have been addicted to them. Trust me, living here in Battery City I've seen more addicts roaming the streets than I can count, so recognizing them becomes habitual after awhile." When the woman behind him didn't respond he continued on with his explanation, sensing her addiction was something she wasn't willing to discuss. "You've been asleep for three days. Your wounds are healing up nicely, minus that nasty burn on your leg. It seems to be infected, but I don't have the antibiotics for it here. You shouldn't let it go for too much longer or you might risk losing your leg." Frenzy finally put down the gun hearing this from Death-iNation. The man was clearly smarter than she'd expected and deserved, if nothing else, her tolerance. Death-iNation turned to face the woman who was nearly a foot shorter than him and smiled just enough to be reassuring. "I'm guessing you would like some clothing and your drugs."

"You're a smart man." Frenzy turned away from him and limped through the kitchen and into the living area where she sat down on the couch. Holding her head in her hands she concentrated on the stinging pain of the air going into her lungs. Every breath was like torture. _If he didn't have my pills I don't know what I'd do. My heart feels like it's in overdrive. Maybe I'd have a heart attack and drop dead. _Shapes formed behind the darkness of her eyelids, yelling in agony, contorting in pain. Frenzy snapped her eyes open, unable to bear seeing the faces of the faces of the children who'd died in the theater so soon. She'd have nightmares about them for months, she was sure.

Death-iNation moved through his house and grabbed Frenzy's dirty clothing and placed them in a pile in front of her on the coffee table along with her flamethrower, her ray gun, a glass of water and her bag of pills. Frenzy quickly reached for the pills and swallowed one, then downed the entire glass of water in one go. She didn't realize how dehydrated she had been until the liquid had hit her tongue. Death-iNation watched her intently and Frenzy froze and put down the glass after a moment, after becoming aware of his staring. Carefully she slipped back into her clothing. If he had more to say to her then she was going to insist he let her put her clothing on before getting down to business. _With any luck, the pills will kick in soon and I can assess the real damage done to me._

"Now… if perhaps you could answer some of _my_ questions since you've clearly decided you aren't going to kill me…" Death-iNation sat down in a wooden chair across from the couch. "What happened to the Killjoys? Is everyone alive and well? Why isn't anyone receiving my transmissions? There are fail safe scenarios in place for situations where the Killjoys fail and none of them have been followed. Most important of all these: would you be willing to help me get back to the eastern camp since it seems neither one of us are welcome in this place any longer?"

"I'll help you but only on one condition." Frenzy thought about her answer carefully. _I don't need another distraction from my work._ "You have to help me out first."

"That's a deal, I think, that I can live with."

* * *

><p>Party Poison had kept the search for Disco Bitch going for a couple of days with Tiger Beatdown and they'd found nothing; not even a trace of the woman or Black Cherrybomb for that matter. They'd searched the third zone along with the unpopulated half of the second zone since Tiger had suggested they start searching toward the City first since he and Alpaca had gone throughout most of the fourth and fifth zone the days prior. Phantom kept in communication with the two as they traveled, checking in every few hours with code words to make sure that whatever fate had befallen Black Cherrybomb and Disco Bitch hadn't befallen the leaders of the Killjoys during their search.<p>

They scoured the fourth zone on the third day. Poison and Tiger had agreed, after a lot of arguing, to give up the search at nightfall and get back to the camp to deal with the threat of the Dracs if they hadn't found anyone by then. Tiger Beatdown didn't want to give up on Disco or Cherrybomb, but mostly Disco. Unfortunately, he couldn't abandon his post as leader of the western Killjoys simply because the woman he was involved with had disappeared. He had a responsibility to the men and women in the western zone who were likely trapped with the Dracs. With any luck, by the time they'd gotten back, Phoenix Fury would have heard back from one of his contacts and if he hadn't, would have come up with a plan of attack to try and take the western camp back.

Poison had a thousand things on his mind and though the search for Disco Bitch had distracted him from some of them there were a few _nagging _thoughts he couldn't seem to get rid of despite countless hours spent trying. The hours in his car seemed to trudge on endlessly. They stopped at the last gas station in the fourth zone and then headed toward the fifth zone to look for their friends.

While Poison leaned lazily against his car, cleaning the grossness from beneath his nails absentmindedly, waiting for the gas to pump into his tank he heard a crackling sound not too far from where they were stopped. Nearly slipping from his spot against the car and onto the ground, he jumped to attention and looked up in the sky for the source.

"What? What is it?" Tiger Beatdown, who had been resting his tired eyes in the passenger seat of the car jumped to attention at the sound of Poison nearly falling flat on his face.

"Look!" Poison pointed to the north at the red sparks of a flare fizzling down from the sky. Someone had set it off to get their attention. The only person he could think of that would do such a thing would be Black Cherrybomb. Why had he waited so long to set off the flare if there had been trouble? Maybe he'd finally found Disco Bitch? Perhaps someone _else_ had found him and used his flare to draw attention and was setting up an attack.

"…Cherrybomb."

"Maybe." Poison added in a suspicious voice. Tiger Beatdown grimaced, knowing exactly what his friend was thinking because he'd had the same thoughts. "We have to at least check."

"It could be dangerous."

"Yeah, well I'm not running, are you?" Poison didn't bother opening the front door of his car and merely slid in through the window, a habit he'd gotten used to over the years.

"Neither am I." Tiger half smiled then returned to the grimace he'd adjusted to since Disco Bitch had gone missing. _Maybe Cherrybomb found her. God I hope he found her._ Poison slipped the car into gear and drove away from the gas station. Flooring it was an understatement for the way he was pressing the accelerator down. He'd taken to speeding to get out his frustrations over the last few days and it seemed to have worked pretty damn well.

"What is that?" Poison narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the dust he'd kicked up with the tires that was blowing in front of the car. There was clearly something dark in color lying in the middle of the sand. As they got closer, Tiger leaned out the window and yelled ahead of him.

"Hey! Cherrybomb!" They'd both guessed it had been him by the size and shape of the mass and were relieved to find that it wasn't a Drac ambush waiting to happen. _Though, if anyone had tried to attack me when I was driving that fast, I could've just run them the hell over._ That thought comforted Party Poison slightly as he slammed on the brakes and pulled up next to where Black Cherrybomb was sitting in the dirt, looking worse for wear. As the dust cleared, the two leaders of the Killjoys got out of the car and walked over to the man who made no effort to meet them. He was coughing into his arm from the dust that had been kicked up. "Oh shit!" Tiger saw the blood dripping down Cherrybomb's face and ran faster toward the man. He leaned down and touched carefully at the source of the dried blood on the man's head. "What happened?"

"You're not going to want to hear it." Cherrybomb grumbled, pulling away from Tiger's touch on his sore forehead. "Ugh I feel sick…" The man was unsteady and barely sitting up properly.

"Help me get him up… he's dehydrated. Why didn't you drink your damn water? I thought you were supposed to be good at this." Poison walked to his side and urged the shorter man's arm around his shoulder. Tiger got on his other side and helped Cherrybomb to a standing position. Cherrybomb could barely keep himself standing upright and his eyes didn't seem to want to stay open as they kept drifting closed every few moments.

"Couldn't… was unconscious for a long fucking time." Cherrybomb had to choke out each word. "Need water…" Tiger and Poison moved as quickly as they could with this man over their shoulders and helped him get into the backseat of the Trans Am. Cherrybomb laid on his back, relieved to be in the shade provided by the car. Tiger walked around the other side of the car after Poison got into the driver's seat and offered Cherrybomb the remainder of his canteen. Weakly, the injured man drank the little bit of water in the metallic container.

"Why were you unconscious?" Poison put the car into gear after he was sure Tiger Beatdown was safely inside. It wasn't smart to linger in that area if Cherrybomb had been attacked, no matter who the attacker had been. "Well, obviously besides the giant gaping wound on your head. What caused it is the proper question I guess."

"I found Disco Bitch." Cherrybomb coughed. The water helped his sore throat, but it still felt strange talking after having been quiet for so damn long.

"What?" Tiger looked in awe. _If he found her then where the hell is she? How could he have lost her? Why wasn't she with him? Was she okay? Had he buried her dead?_

"Yeah, she was face down in the sand… Can't tell you how long ago it was since I was out of it for awhile. But I found her that first night that I'd been searching. I was planning on bringing her back that morning."

"Two days ago, just so you know." Poison nodded his head resolutely but kept his eyes on the road. "You found Disco, but she's not with you…"

"Let me continue." Cherrybomb was exhausted, but knew the time for rest would come after he'd gotten back to camp. "She was worse for wear when I found her. Clearly she was dehydrated but she was having a tough time breathing and… had needle marks all along her skin. I'd never seen anything like it before and I've dealt with a lot of fucking Dracs."

"What? She'd… Do you think it was drugs?" Tiger panicked. He'd known that Disco Bitch had been a serious alcoholic but she'd never mentioned anything about drug abuse before. Looking to Party Poison for answers, Tiger hoped he didn't have to ask.

"No, no that's not like Disco Bitch. She was always against the drugs." Poison knew what Tiger was thinking and knew it couldn't be that. In fact, he had a much worse feeling about what had happened to Disco Bitch. "Experiments. Right?"

"Yeah… She said she'd found something in the desert." Cherrybomb was struggling to remember the woman's words. All he could seem to clearly remember was the look in her eyes when she'd started accusing him of laughing at her. Vividly, he could hear her voice shift as if she had been possessed by something. Heart pounding, he tried not to recall the blow to the head, but the pounding he felt in that place now was reminder enough.

"Did she say what she found?" Tiger Beatdown tried to urge the words from the man in the cat suit lying in the back seat. As concerned as he was for Cherrybomb, the fact that Disco was no longer with him worried him far more severely. _What has Better Living Industries done to you?_

"She found a door. Some kind of underground facility where they kept her… Called A-WEB? That's what she said at least. I tried to ask her more about it and she…" Cherrybomb drifted off, his eyes darting to Tiger Beatdown then over to Poison, as though he didn't want to upset Tiger by telling him what followed.

"What did she do when you asked her?" Poison cleared his throat, noticing that Tiger was staring and awaiting the bad news. _I can guess where it went from here, but I want to hear it from him._

"She got pissed off… Holding her head like she couldn't stand to hear what I was asking of her when I was trying to be as nice as I could be. I mean… I tried to console her then she fucking accused me of _laughing at her_. I told her I hadn't laughed at all, because I hadn't, and… she just flipped out at me. I've never seen her like that before. I've never seen anyone like that before actually. She lunged at me and beat me in the head with a fucking rock until I blacked out." Cherrybomb pointed to the wound on his head, blinking a few times as if to make sure his eyes still worked. Drawing attention to the wound seemed to worsen the throbbing in his head.

"What? No! Disco wouldn't attack you, that's ridiculous. You were trying to help her, she had no reason to!" Tiger objected quickly, but didn't believe his own objections.

"I'm just telling you what happened. I didn't understand why she did it either. But that's not the end of the story. I'll confess, I blacked out for a few seconds but I guess part of me knew that I had to get it together and see what her issue was. There was no way I could just let her run off like that." Cherrybomb stared at his hands, trying to recall the blurry vision he got a glimpse of before he couldn't fight the pain in his head any longer and had been forced into unconsciousness.

"What did you see after that?" Poison kept his eyes on the road but his mind was reeling with the new information. What had Disco Bitch found out in the desert? Where had she found it? It had to have been in the fourth or fifth zones, judging by the direction that Korse had been heading in and of course where they'd found Cherrybomb. He'd make a point to ask if she mentioned it after Black Cherrybomb had told his story.

"Korse. I saw Korse." Cherrybomb furrowed his brow at the memory. "And some big fucking…spider. I know it sounds crazy but it was… fogged up from my fucking head wound. It looked like a spider dragging Disco along through the sand. I could see Korse should fine, so I don't think I'm making the spider part up."

"What?" Tiger and Poison said in unison. The news of Korse hadn't surprised Party Poison in the least with his presence there, but this spider thing he'd only heard mentions of from Death-iNation.

"I told you it was crazy."

"You bumped your head, maybe that's why you saw that?" Tiger suggested, having a hard time taking in the entire story without grabbing the wheel of the car and forcing Party Poison to turn back around in search of this mysterious door Disco had mentioned.

"Look, Tiger, I may have hit my head but I somehow don't think my hallucinations would've formed a fucking giant spider. It's too fucking bizarre to be fake." Cherrybomb closed his eyes and relaxed in the back seat, as much as one with a head wound could relax in a seat that wasn't long enough for one to lie flat properly on.

"So, a giant spider and Korse dragged Disco away in some kind of fit of lunacy?" Party Poison said as seriously as he could manage the ludicrous statement. "I have some letters from Death-iNation… He warned me about something called the Widow but I didn't take it too seriously. I thought it had something to do with that IOD project in the City."

"Well, maybe it's a different project entirely." Cherrybomb suggested, realizing that Tiger was stuck in some kind of silent reverie.

"I want to give that letter a second look, see if I'm missing something. Maybe there's a hidden message I didn't notice since I didn't understand the point of the flyer to begin with." Poison contemplated, speeding toward the third zone.

"We should look for this facility in the outer zones." Tiger suggested, deciding to ignore what they had been saying in regards to the letters. "We should turn around and investigate."

"Yeah, smart idea. Let's go after Korse and a big fucking spider… just us. Oh, and one of us has a pretty nasty head wound so that'll help. No, Tiger. We're not going to wander aimlessly around the zones looking for this facility. I'm doing this the right way. I have those letters from Death-iNation so maybe he hid the location of this facility on the flyer he sent me. Then we'll go from there. I can't send more people into danger. Plus, even if it was just Korse on his own, the three of us don't stand a fucking chance and you know it." Poison snapped at him. Tiger went to object but Poison continued. "No, Tiger. I get it. You have feelings for her, well she's been my friend for fucking years but you've got a _duty_ to the Killjoys and a responsibility. We _will_ go after her but we aren't going to run in there without a fucking plan."

"What if she doesn't have the time it takes for us to make a _plan_?" Tiger gritted his teeth and spoke without looking back at Poison. _I hate that he's right._

"It's still better than us running into the desert after her and getting our asses handed to us because we didn't fucking think before we acted. If the tables were turned Tiger, you'd be talking some sense into me too and you know it."

"No, I'd tell you to follow your heart for once, instead of being a dick."

"Well, if you're following your heart without the help of your head all the damn time maybe we need to reconsider if you're really fucking _fit_ to lead the western Killjoys anymore. Agent Alpaca was right. You're mind is fucking clouded over by this relationship with Disco and I will not have it jeopardizing anyone's life. That's including yours."

"If I choose to go after her, then you can't stop me. I'll quit if I have to."

"You're right. I can't stop you. But you will not be taking any of my men. If you stick around for a fucking day or two and let me do this the right way then I'll send you out there with a fucking army to save her okay?" Tiger didn't respond this time to Poison's commanding. They hadn't fought like that before and Tiger had been surprised that Poison had taken the reins like that so quickly. _Maybe he's right. I'm emotionally compromised. Perhaps I should step down and let Agent Alpaca do my job? Would Poison even allow that?_

"Tiger, man, you just need to think about it for an hour or so. You might not want to act so rashly after you've given it some clear thought. I know you adore this woman, I can tell, but you're not thinking it through." Trying to ease the tension in the car, Cherrybomb broke the silence that followed the argument.

"You're right."

"Let's just hope that Phantom and Cutlass got something from the Dracs they brought with them back to camp. We'll have a whole new set of questions for them to ask when we get there." Poison shifted gears on the Trans Am and sped toward the camp, eager to get back to work.

* * *

><p>Crashing to the floor, the chair with the Drac tied to it made a sickening metallic sound followed by the sound of bone smacking on concrete as the prisoner's skull bounced against the floor. Jet-Star winced and grabbed Captain Phantom's arm to stop her from climbing over the Drac to teach him a lesson he wouldn't soon forget.<p>

"Let me go Jet!" Phantom tried to shove him off, determined to make one of those assholes suffer. _After they humiliated me and my crew, they deserve far worse. Damn Poison not letting me kill them._

"You can't kill him, not _yet_!" Jet-Star tightened his grip on her arm threateningly and whispered to her. She'd always been a tough woman to keep control of, but he knew how important it was to get this information from the Dracs.

"Let the one-eyed bitch go, maybe I'll help her get rid of the other eye." The Drac spat blood on the floor as far toward the two as he could, a grin spread across his face.

"I should rip out your eye you fucker!" Cutlass kicked the Drac in the ribs but it was only received with a groan followed by a laugh from the man on the ground. Cutlass had always been defensive of his sister, plus he was just as annoyed with the Dracs.

"He's not going to say anything!" Phantom argued after having managed to calm herself down. Interrogating the Dracs had been harder than she had anticipated. She'd expected to be able to scare them into talking but it hadn't gone easily. It'd been days since they'd begun the process and all they'd gotten in return was cursing, spitting, and violent outbursts. All she found herself wanting to do was kill the fuckers who had taken her eye in a battle a few years prior and who had killed her parents so long ago.

"Not if you keep kicking him in the ribs! He won't be able to talk at all!" Jet-Star scolded and walked over to the Drac on the floor. "Bite me and I'll _let_ her kill you, got it? I've seen you gnash your teeth at people, don't fucking bother." He lifted the back of the chair, pushing the pale, beaten man back into an upright position. Careful to stay out of reach of being bitten, Jet-Star was surprised when the Drac hadn't even made an attempt to. _Maybe he's actually starting to listen to me. It took long enough._ "Look, you were sent out here to infiltrate the Killjoys then you were sent after these two here. We know that already. Unfortunately for you, they're a lot tougher than you anticipated. If you tell us what your superiors told you the purpose of your infiltration was then we can talk about getting you something to eat and some water."

"Jet! Are you kidding me? How about he tells us or I'll cut each of his fucking fingers off until he bleeds to death! They wouldn't have this kind of pity for us, they never have! Dracs murder without caution! If he hadn't been under _orders_ from Phoenix Fury then we would've been dead the moment they saw us!" Phantom spat, still bitter that Party Poison had let Phoenix Fury out of prison as well. _I wouldn't mind having a few minutes alone with that asshole._ "I get it, we have to be better than those fuckers at Better Living or what's the point? We can't just kill them but if anyone deserved it… Oh, it'd be these two."

"Maybe you should calm down a little." Cutlass whispered to his sister, his back to the Drac. "Jet-Star knows what he's doing here. You heard all that shit Poison said earlier… We need to get information from him so he can plan our next move. Those last Dracs killed themselves, and now we've got nothing without these guys talking."

"What if we're just wasting our time?" Phantom glanced back at the Drac who flashed his bloody smile at her. Phantom flipped him the middle finger then continued talking to her brother. "We could be making a plan right now instead of trying to talk to someone who doesn't want to talk to us."

"And what if we don't try at all and these guys actually have some information we could use?" Cutlass put a reassuring hand on his sister's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "We have to at least try."

"I don't like when you're right, just so we're clear." Phantom turned around to face the Drac again.

"Now, are you going to talk to us yet? Or should I let Phantom try to talk to you again. You know how she just loves to talk to you." Jet-Star knelt down in front of the Drac who stared at him, contemplating his offer. It hadn't been the first time they'd asked him flat out to talk to them, but it had been the first it looked like he was thinking about it. After a moment of no response, Jet-Star hung his head and exhaled in disappointment.

Getting up from his spot on the floor, he turned to face Phantom and Cutlass who looked eager to have their way with the Drac. Jet-Star couldn't blame them. He didn't want to let him live either, not after seeing what had happened to Kobra Kid, not after the numerous members he'd treated from injuries caused by these Dracs in the last week. Jet-Star had to admit that the interrogations were starting to feel hopeless and pointless. Giving the order to execute them wasn't his job though, and he wasn't going to give it.

"What should we do with him Jet?" Phantom seemed to have calmed down enough to talk rationally. She hadn't had a proper amount of rest since the Dracs had taken her and her crew captive and the last twenty four hours of interrogating had worn her nerves thin. It was so easy to slip into a rage around the Dracs for her to begin with, the circumstances only made it easier. If Cutlass and Jet-Star hadn't stopped her, she likely would've killed him without any mercy in the first hour.

"It's been hours. He's clearly not talking to us." Jet-Star straightened his back and headed toward the door of the cell, unsure of what else he could do. "We'll give him a few hours by himself. Let him think about my offer in the darkness." Opening the door, Jet-Star held it open for his comrades to leave.

"We weren't trying to bring down the Killjoys from the inside. You have it all wrong." The Drac was barely audible, voice trembling, as though afraid of the repercussions that talking would bring. He was afraid of being beaten again, afraid of dying as most of the Dracs were after a few days away from the drugs. "Better Living knows you're smarter than that. They knew you'd figure out what was going on it was only a matter of time. We were told to distract you for as long as we could. Those were our orders."

Jet-star, Captain Phantom and Commander Cutlass exchanged glances before turning to face the Drac. They hadn't expected any sort of response from the Drac, even if they had come back a few hours later. Perhaps the offer of food and kindness had been what had sent him over the edge, but Jet-Star was guessing it was more fear of being killed by Captain Phantom that was driving him.

It was possible the Drac could be lying about what they were assigned to do, but all three of them had a feeling he was being honest. Jet-Star had thought the whole thing was a distraction to begin with so confirmation of such hadn't surprised him.

"Distract from what? Why would Better Living feel like they need to distract us? They do everything in secret anyway so it's not like this would change much." Cutlass had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. _Unless whatever Better Living is doing couldn't be done inside or underground_.

"We weren't told what they were going to do, just that we had to cause enough chaos to keep you chasing your tails for as long as possible. They were hoping for a few more weeks. You were underestimated." The Drac hung his head in shame. He'd betrayed his cause and essentially thrown his life away. Dracs who talked to the Killjoys were killed and made examples of by Better Living Industries. Even if he turned and chose to join the Killjoys, it'd be likely that he wouldn't be trusted by them either.

The group stared at the Dracs. Jet-Star had more questions for him, but he had made a promise. If he talked, he'd get him some food and he was a man of his word. Captain Phantom walked toward the Drac to continue with her questions. Curiosity and disgust made her want to know why they had gone out of their way to humiliate her and her crew. If he was finally spilling his guts then she was going to finally get her say in things. Jet-Star grabbed her arm before she had the chance to continue on with any questions. The look on her face meant trouble and Jet-Star wanted to keep their Drac willing to talk for as long as possible.

"I promised him food. Let's go get him some. I can't leave you in here with him alone." Jet-Star nodded toward the hallway. Phantom and Cutlass reluctantly left the room. They couldn't expect to keep interrogating the Drac if Jet-Star didn't keep his end of the bargain. Both of them knew they couldn't be left alone with the prisoner so they opt to leave the room without arguing. "I'll send someone with a plate of food for you as soon as I can. Thank you for answering my questions. I know you don't want to hear it, but you did the right thing." The Drac didn't respond to his gratitude, just stared at the floor of his cell.

"He talked! I didn't expect him to _talk_! Jet-Star you're awesome. More awesome than I remember you being actually." Commander Cutlass nudged the man with the very messy hair. As much as he wanted to inflict pain upon the Drac, the information they gathered was more useful than the abuse would've been.

"I think he has a lot more to say to us, we're just not asking the right questions yet. We should ask who helped them infiltrate the Killjoys. I don't know if Poison told you, but he thinks we have a leak, we just haven't been able to figure out who it is yet." Jet-Star led them from the prison and walked toward the front of the camp. "We need to get him some food. If we can get him to open up to us, there may be hope for his friend as well."

"Jet-Star!" Cosmic Karma came running from the front of the camp and stopped, out of breath in front of him, knees bent and hunched forward. The group stopped walking and stared at her in alarm. It was never a good thing when a Killjoy came running out of breath through the camp.

"What is it, Karma? Is everything alright?" Jet-Star responded, not bothering to continue thinking about the previous conversation. _I swear, if something happened to Kobra Kid while I was with those Dracs I might never forgive myself._

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Poison's back and he needs your help! They found Cherrybomb but he's hurt!" Karma nodded toward the direction she'd come from, catching her breath.

"Who the hell is Cherrybomb?" Captain Phantom made a face at the name.

"An ex-Killjoy. He's helped us out quite a bit in the last week. He helped break some of us out when the rebels were holding us captive." Cosmic Karma answered for Jet-Star.

"Why do I get the feeling people are running low on name ideas?" Phantom mumbled. "There should be an approval process of some sort. Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go help this _Cherrybomb_." The group hurried to the front of the camp where Poison had driven his car inside and parked between the guard towers. Tiger Beatdown and Party Poison were doing their best to maneuver the injured man out of the car, who was complaining quite loudly that he could walk on his own.

"You have been unconscious for days, you shouldn't be walking without help!" Tiger Beatdown objected, stumbling in the dirt as he tugged on Cherrybomb's shoulders in an attempt to drag him out of the car.

"Let him walk guys, you look ridiculous." Jet-Star couldn't help but laugh at the comical scene in front of him. Poison was half in the back seat of the car trying to support the short man's legs while Tiger was struggling with his shoulders and nearly stumbling over himself in the dirt.

"I told you to let me walk! I hit my head, not my legs!" Cherrybomb grumbled as Tiger helped shove him back into the car so he wouldn't fall backwards into the dirt. After a moment he emerged on his own, limping but otherwise managing to keep his balance. Party Poison hurried over to Jet-Star and the group following behind him.

"Any luck with the Dracs?"

"Actually, yes." Phantom folded her arms across her chest. She didn't want to admit it, but waiting them out had actually worked. "Jet-Star got one of them to talk just a few moments ago. The other seems like a lost cause to me but then again I thought this guy was too. Really, I was ready to blow the guy's brains in hours ago but Jet made us hold out. He told us that they were assigned to infiltrate the camps as a distraction, not to try and split the Killjoys apart. Apparently, Better Living knows that we're too smart to fall for that."

"Well, it's some kind of progress that he told us anything at all but I already fucking knew that they were trying to distract us from something. Better Living is up to something out in the outer zones and not to mention that fucking IOD project. They have something much bigger planned for us, something that could potentially wipe us out. I just don't know what it is yet." Poison contemplated the next course of action. "Ask him what he knows about a spider. Then ask him who infiltrated the Killjoys. I want to know the name of that squealer and show them what we do to people who fucking betray us." Poison made a punching motion with his fist.

"Poison, I need to get him into the infirmary." Jet-Star interrupted the conversation, now half supporting Black Cherrybomb. "He's got a concussion and I need to make sure he's not bleeding into his brain… That'd be really fucking bad and I'm not medically equipped to handle it right now."

"Surely wouldn't help my _game_ very much either, would it?" Cherrybomb chuckled.

"Well, clearly he can't be that hurt he's still making sex jokes. You do what you need to do to get him back into shape, Jet-Star. Cosmic Karma, you take his place with Captain Phantom and Commander Cutlass. Make sure they don't get carried away with the beating and the guns. I know how they _love_ to get carried away with the beating and the guns." Poison reiterated.

"Oh, and bring the Drac something to eat and some water, I promised him some if he talked." Jet-Star yelled as he walked away without looking back at them. Cherrybomb was leaning heavier on him by the moment.

"Yeah, do that too. You've got to keep your promises, sadly, especially if you want that fucker to talk more. I might have some more leads for you. If I come up with more questions to ask, I'll come and join you too. Honestly, I think it'd make a huge impact if I came in to join you but there are some things I've got to figure out before I can help. Call me right away if you figure something out, I'll be at home looking through my records." Poison started to walk away, eager to look at the letters he'd received from Death-iNation.

"Poison, what about Disco Bitch? Did you find her?" Commander Cutlass asked before he could walk away. They'd been well acquainted with the assassin, at least enough to be concerned that she was missing for so long.

"It looks like Better Living's got her." Poison turned back to look at the two for a moment. There was little else he could say to reassure them.

"Well fuck." Phantom grimaced, knowing that Disco was more than likely dead if she'd been gone for this long. As much as she wanted details about what Party Poison knew, she could tell he had something important to do. _I'll ask later._

"I know. I'm working on it." Poison turned away again and started back toward his home. There had to be something hidden on the flyer Death-iNation had sent him. He'd been trying to send him a message and at the time, Poison hadn't understood it but now the pieces were falling into place. It was just a matter of putting them in the right place and completing the whole picture before it was too late.


	26. Guilt Never Pays

_Not again, no not again. Please, not this again. I can't wake up in that awful room again, not with the almond smelling gas, the video of all that gore, the torture of it all. I can't do it again, I'm just not strong enough to live through it a second time. _Disco Bitch was conscious but not willing to open her eyes immediately to see her fate. Something was shifting in the room around her, and close to her to boot. Trying to sense what it was with her eyes closed without revealing she was awake was nearly impossible. The only tell she had to what was in front of her was the _smell_ of it. Perhaps Disco herself was the source of the smell and the paranoid feeling of someone watching her was all in her head. _After what I did to Black Cherrybomb, I wouldn't be surprised if it was. God, I hope he's okay. I'll never forgive myself if he died out there in the desert after I hit him like that._

"I know that you're awake, little girl." The hollow voice of the spider woman whispered so quietly that the voice almost didn't seem real. Perhaps it was all another grand illusion caused by her mind and the voice was in her head. Disco Bitch froze and held her breath. _Maybe if I sit still with my eyes closed for long enough I'll be able to fool her into thinking I'm dead. Unless the voice actually is in my head, then I'm not fooling anyone._

Despite her mind insisting that she do her best to play dead, Disco's eyes opened on their own accord only to find she was about three inches from the face of the widow, her long metallic legs surrounding them in the center of the room she'd escaped from, releasing the occasional sound of steam hissing from the pistons in her joints. Gag reflex kicked in at the sight of the woman's decaying face and it took all of Disco's failing willpower to keep her from vomiting. Flesh was torn beneath the woman's right eye and ear and the teeth that hadn't fallen out of her gums were decaying and unnaturally pointed as though they'd been filed down. White film covered the woman's left eye and the iris staring at her was barely visible beneath it. Fresh stitches seemed to be holding the woman's scalp into place with the rest of her face as though it had recently been split.

_Why did I look at her? I was supposed to play dead!_ Disco was puzzled but didn't have time to contemplate what it could mean. Perhaps curiosity had gotten the better of her or maybe it was the fact that she knew playing dead wouldn't work and she was terrified of those metallic grips being placed back around her eyes that had forced her to open her eyes against her will.

"That's a good girl."

"You're disgusting." Disco choked out, her distaste showing clearly on her lips in a curled frown.

"_You're_ mine." A twisted toothed smile spread over the face of the Widow. Disco tried her best not to inhale the rotting breath of the woman but it was nearly impossible to avoid doing so.

"…I'll never give into you. You can't make me betray my friends!"

"I can make you do whatever I want." Widow responded in a hollow voice, pulling back and rising to her full height, sitting tall on the seat in the middle of the metallic spider body. _Is it disgusting that I find her strangely elegant? Someone spent a lot of time building the mechanics of that metallic frame. They even dressed her up like some kind of queen. If it wasn't for that goddamn rotting face and the unnaturally long limbs she'd be beautiful. Of course, it would also help if she wasn't trying to fucking torture me._

"You can _try_ but I will fight until there's nothing left of me and then you'll just be controlling a fucking shell. You won't get _anything_ useful out of me, that I fucking promise. Whatever my body does after I'm gone, means nothing."

"You've already killed one of your friends without me controlling you. _I _didn't even order you to do that and you killed him… without any remorse." Widow pulled up her front metallic legs and held them on either side of the chair Disco sat in unrestrained.

"I didn't _kill_ anyone." Disco was inwardly panicking but wasn't going to show that to this woman. _I couldn't have possibly hit him that hard! He's a tough guy, he'll pull through. Even if you didn't hit him that hard he clearly blacked out with that last blow. If no one finds him out in the desert you will have killed him. He'll bleed to death. Murderer. Destroyer. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy. _Yelling in frustration in hopes it would drown out the sounds in her head, Disco grabbed her short hair and closed her eyes, trying to will the other voice in her head to quiet itself while she tugged at her hair.

"Oh you killed him alright. You knocked him right in the head, it was a beautiful spray of blood on the white desert sand… Not as elegant a death as I'd prefer but who am I to care as long as it's Killjoy blood being shed?" Widow's hollow laugh echoed through the room though there was no emotion her face.

"No!" Disco lunged at the spider. No longer caring about the idea of touching the rotting flesh, she attacked. She'd rip those stitches on her face open and watch her bleed and writhe on the floor in pain. If anyone was going to die, it'd be the fucking spider in front of her, not any of her friends.

"Sit back down." Widow's maniacal smile faded and her face turned cold and serious. Severe shadows in the room made her look far more threatening than she had only moments ago. Disco froze mid-stride and stared at the spider. _Why am I stopping? She's scared I'll hurt her! I just need to move a few feet and take her out! I could get away if I could just kill her!_ Her body wouldn't follow the command she was giving with her mind. Slowly she sat back down in the chair she'd woken up in. _Oh God…_ Disco Bitch came to the realization of the betrayal of her mind after a few more minutes of thinking about the events that had taken place since she'd woken up.

Widow moved her long metallic limbs and circled Disco Bitch menacingly. A series of pistons and gears behind the seat carrying the rotting woman came to life, starting slowly and gaining speed as the moments ticked by. Not having noticed them before, Disco observed the tubes attached to the back of the spider woman, which connected into some kind of machine on her back. _If I can just rip those out, maybe she'll malfunction. _Disco struggled to move her arms and found her hands only gripping at the arms of the chair beneath her.

"What, now you have nothing to say to me?" Widow hissed tauntingly in her ear, the pistons behind her moving faster. The heat from the steam made the room sweltering quicker than Disco had anticipated it could. Front metallic arms still raised, the ends of them split into three pieces, then bent at separate joints, acting almost like fingers. The metallic "hands" grabbed at Disco's wrists and very easily pulled her up into the air.

"What did you do to me?" Disco managed to stutter out. Even her words didn't seem to want to cooperate with her anymore. _What's going on? Why can't I move? Why can't I talk? Is it some kind of paralytic? I don't feel paralyzed, I just don't have any control._

"Oh, now you're figuring it out hmm? Took you longer than I expected…" Widow whispered, leaning around the woman and whispering close to her ear. Disco wanted to struggle against the metallic claws on her wrists but instead she did as she was told to do.

"…you bitch."

"You managed to get away before we finished with you. There is much more work I have to do with you before you're complete." Widow's hollow eyes were dilating until her iris was nearly completely overtaken by her pupil. Something hot and burning dripped onto Disco's hands very suddenly. She managed to look up in her moment of panic. _I haven't lost complete control yet, that's what she must be talking about._ Despite her reassurance the white substance dripping down her arms from the "hands" of the Widow was filling her with terror.

Two more metallic legs rose into the air, Widow forced onto her back two legs, having to balance herself by leaning forward. The hot white material came out of the newly risen legs and began to spin around Disco's feet, tying her up tightly. The material solidified into something sticky but strong. _Fucking spider web, she's wrapping me up in a goddamn artificial web, what the fuck?_

"I won't turn on my friends no matter what you do."

"Oh you _will_ turn on your friends. One by one you will get close to them again and you will kill them and they'll never know any wiser… the whole time they'll think their trusted friend, Disco is killing them- betraying them." Widow hissed tauntingly. "Your mind is clear… that part is done with. You'll be able to think just fine the entire time. However your thoughts will be betrayed. You are my puppet now, my little doll…" The webbing slowly encompassed Disco's legs and she was sure it would soon consume her in her entirety. The material burned at her skin, made her itch and want to kick and try to escape but her limbs wouldn't cooperate even though she felt her legs twitching with the discomfort they felt. Her nerves were on fire, as if this webbing was seeping into her skin and attacking every nerve ending in her body, telling it to fire off a signal of pain to her brain.

Choking on her body's unnatural urge to keep quiet, Disco howled in pain and misery. Tears instantly formed in her eyes, pouring down her cheeks. _I haven't cried in fucking years, holy shit, holy shit! I can't make the pain stop! Fuck!_

Rotting fingers brushed over her cheek. For awhile Disco thought the woman's actual limbs were useless but she felt the elongated fingers over her skin, wiping up the saline tears on her cheek. Watching was all she could do since her eyes wouldn't close on their own. At least the tears were obscuring the vision of the woman's rotted tongue, covered in sores as it licked the moisture from Disco's anguish off of her fingers.

"Total and complete defeat- my favorite dish." Widow hissed, her arm returning to its stationary position, hands folded in her lap.

"F-fuck you…" Disco choked out between sobs.

"Your mind will remain perfectly sane… but your body is mine. You will watch, helpless and locked inside of your mind as we hunt down every single one of your friends and rip them limb from limb… I'll make it slow. Just for you." Widow whispered, wanting to see the woman break down. She was determined to destroy every sense of hope Disco Bitch had before she fell unconscious. "Your friends will die, knowing you are the one who betrayed them. The people you love will watch as their blood spills by your hands. The Killjoys will crumble beneath your fist… just by the tug of my string…"

The pain from the webbing was more than Disco could bear, but the thought of losing herself was what was really killing her. _I can't pass out. When I lose consciousness I might never be myself again. I have to fight! I have to try!_

"There's no use in struggling, you're body is no longer yours." Widow continued wrapping Disco in her web, watching with pleasure as the woman's body twitched and writhed in pain despite the constriction the webbing caused.

Disco wanted to scream and fight back, but her arms were becoming tangled and stiff in the web. Soon the pain was all she could think about. There was no attempting to fight back, no trying to break free, no contemplations of her own sanity; just excruciating pain.

"You're mine."

Darkness surrounded Disco Bitch and against her will she fell into unconsciousness, praying that she'd be strong enough to keep her sanity when she woke.

* * *

><p>Watching Fire Frenzy work was one of the most interesting things that Death-iNation had done since he'd been spying for the Killjoys. Sure, he'd spent plenty of hours following around men in suits at Better Living and watching them discuss the demise of those around them without any remorse but this woman here had a way of working that was almost illogical. After they'd gotten the details sorted out about what had happened to her and she'd taken her drugs to help curb the withdrawal, Nation had gotten all of the transmission records he'd received from Party Poison during his duration in the City as a sleeper cell as well as the files he'd managed to smuggle from Better Living Industries and allowed her access to them.<p>

Frenzy had refused food and instead started pouring over the information Death-iNation had provided her with, flicking her lighter occasionally with her left hand while writing straight onto the coffee table the information she thought was important. She hadn't learned a whole lot from Poison's transmissions since most of them were cryptic questions or written in riddles. However, she had discovered that Party Poison was _far_ cleverer than she had ever given him credit for. It was surprising to see just how many literary references he had used to disguise information about Better Living Industries. _And here I was thinking he hadn't been the type to pick up a fucking book._

It wasn't until she had gotten to the information Nation had gathered from Better Living about the IOD project that Frenzy felt like she was making some real progress in her search. Apparently Better Living had been working on the project for the last ten years and the orphans they'd been stealing had been going directly to the project but most had ended up dead. Statistically 98 percent of the orphans hadn't survived even half of the experiment. The corpses of the children who didn't make it through the initial phase of the experiment would have their bodies sent to the Scarecrow Unit to be reanimated and kept as Dracs until their corpses rotted and became useless. Those who made it further along into the IOD study but died with age were sent out into the desert to a secret underground facility referred to as "A-WEB".

Frenzy scribbled on the table notes about what she was discovering none of which Nation could make out. It was like she had her own language while writing out her notes and he'd stopped attempting to understand it after an hour and instead concentrated on how to deal with the sticky situation he'd found himself in. The woman still hadn't told him what had become of the Killjoys in the third zone and he was growing ever more impatient.

"The IOD project, what's the point if only those three made it through all the tests?" Finally Frenzy spoke, her voice no longer haggard and strained as it had once been when she'd held him up in the kitchen. Clearly the drugs were doing their job.

"Those three were a fluke. They literally came back from the fucking dead and out of those tests. Better Living seems to think that if they continue the experiments on them, they'll eventually find out _how_ those three managed through it and will be able to recreate the effect on future experiments to create a stronger military."

"But it's been years, it's obviously not working. Why would they waste their time?"

"They consider it to be an extermination project and IOD is so damn profitable that they see the loss of the orphans as… justifiable collateral." Death-iNation used his hands to speak, just like Party Poison did; it was uncanny.

"But they're losing money, aren't they?"

"Money they'll bring back in controlling the population with fear. The only problem is that IOD is unstable. Every time they try to send them on a mission something goes horribly wrong and they have to send out Korse and his unit to sterilize the aftermath." Death-iNation sighed, running his fingers through his slicked back ash blond hair, taming the pieces that had managed to escape in the hours that had past. "It gives a whole new meaning to 'The Aftermath is Secondary.'"

Fire Frenzy stared at the information in front of her for a few long minutes, riddled with guilt over the things she'd done in the past few days. The medicine didn't seem to be helping with the aching throb in her head. Hand to her forehead she closed her eyes, trying to think about her next move but all she could see were the faces of the kids in the theater, torn to pieces because of her. What would happen to the little girl who had helped save her from Obliterator? _I can't let her become one of them after that. She fought so damn hard to escape those bastards and she deserves a better life than this. She deserves a better life than you._

"What about the girl?"

"You already asked about her, remember?" Death-iNation was unsure if this woman wasn't right in the head, or if she was still suffering the side effects from withdrawal but either way he planned on treading lightly around her. Not that she was acting like a mental patient other than the incessant obsessive flicking of her cigarette lighter but he could just _feel_ something was off. It'd take a lot more than a few ticks and a nervous feeling to get him to back down.

"Yeah, I know." Frenzy sighed heavily. "So you let those monsters just _take_ her and pulled me out of there instead? You should've left _me_ to distract them and gotten the kid out. She saved my ass in there. She deserved better."

"Instigator already had the little girl by the time I got there so there was nothing I could've done. The Dracs were storming the area to clean up the mess that IOD was making and if I hadn't gotten you out of there you would've just bled to death on the concrete. I weighed my risks and my options and I had a better chance of saving you than I did of saving her." Death-iNation said resolutely. "That little girl…"

"Grace."

"Fine, _Grace_ made the decision to come after you Fire Frenzy. She knew what could happen to her by doing so and she chose to come after you anyway, just like you knew what would happen if you instigated those monsters and you did so anyway to _save_ those kids. They didn't have any chance to get out other than you being there. When she went after you she wasn't expecting you to carry her out of there to safety. It would've been a disservice to her for you to have died and her to have been taken away. At least now you got away and can continue on with… whatever the hell it is your doing. Not that you've told me so I have no idea what your goal is."

"I promised you that I'd help you once you'd helped me out with my plans. I'll tell you what's going on in the third zone but I can't take you back there until after I've done some things here."

"Like what? What do you plan on doing here?"

"The Killjoys were infiltrated by Dracs disguising themselves as such." Frenzy chose to ignore his question and instead started in on her explanation. "They faked some pictures and some stories about corruption with the leaders and found this rebellion junkie with a green mohawk to lead a revolution against Party Poison. Long story short, Poison became an outlaw amongst his own people then I helped him find a strategist to take back the camp. So, the Killjoys are okay now. I think. Something about a leak amongst them and no one can figure it out. It wasn't my place to ask any further questions on the subject, plus I didn't really _care_ all that much." Frenzy summed up the story quickly, managing to keep out any of her personal details. There was far too much to do now that she'd read up on all of the information Death-iNation had.

"Whoa, wait. Slow down for a second." Nation stood up as the much smaller woman did, refusing to let her leave before she'd answered all of his questions. "Dracs infiltrated the Killjoys? How the hell did that happen?"

"I just told you how it happened. There was a leak amongst the Killjoys and that person was letting them in for some time apparently."

"Who was the leak?"

"I don't know, they hadn't figured that out before I bailed and I wasn't interested enough to investigate it myself."

"Why did you bail on them anyway?" Death-iNation knew the woman was keeping out key parts of the story but he couldn't deduce exactly what they were.

"Because I'm _not _a Killjoy, alright?" The woman got defensive very quickly and it'd taken her a second to get her answer out with a straight face. "It's not my job to be out there with those people and I don't take orders from any of you. I know what my purpose in this world is and it has nothing to do with chasing my tail around in circles like the Killjoys do." Frenzy chose her words carefully. _It's none of his business what I'm doing here just like it was none of Poison's. I'm not going to make that mistake twice in one week._

"If you're not a Killjoy how did you get mixed up in this anyway?"

"That's none of your business and I suggest that you move on."

"That means it must be something personal that you're afraid to talk about."

"You're not very good at listening are you? It seems to be a common thing amongst you Killjoys."

"So, one more time: there was a leak and they let Dracs infiltrate the Killjoys and that leak gave someone proof that Poison was corrupt so that this someone would attack Poison and try to split the Killjoys apart? That's what you're saying?" Nation followed the woman as she walked into the room she'd woken up in and started searching for her weapons. He wanted to get his story straight before he changed subjects.

"That's what I said isn't it?"

"Yeah, I'm just trying to understand. Would you stop running around for just two seconds please?" Nation grabbed Frenzy's wrist and urged her to keep still. Frenzy twisted his arm around and shoved him into the wall, cringing with pain immediately afterward. Regardless of how much it had hurt to complete the action, she'd clearly made her point with the move. Nation held up both of his hands defensively and looked apologetic.

"Don't fucking touch me."

"Calm down, I'm just trying to understand the situation and you're already running out the door. Will you just let me help you for a few seconds?" Death-iNation knew he was treading dangerous waters but he wasn't one to back down.

"What is it with you Killjoys and insisting upon me needing help? I don't _need_ your help, I'm doing just _fine_ without you. I've done just fine without all of you for years and you still keep pushing!"

"Really? You're doing just fine? Because you were going to die out there if I hadn't found you before Destroyer got to you again. If you just tell me what you're in such a rush to do I can help you do it without getting you killed!"

"I have important things to do and you Killjoys always seem to get in the way. You're thieves and liars and I don't want your help!"

"I am not a thief and I am _not_ a liar nor have I ever been." Death-iNation stood proudly. "I give you my word Fire Frenzy. If you just tell me what you're going to do I'll tell you whether or not I can help you. If I can't help you then I won't try to stop you. You're really injured right now and I know you're not feeling it anymore because of the drugs but you almost died. Running out there healthy is stupid, this is just suicidal."

"I'm leaving." Frenzy pulled away and folded her arms over her chest defiantly. "I need my weapons with me. If I'm as wanted as you say that I am then I can't go out there unarmed because I won't last more than an hour."

"Where will you go if I give them to you?"

"I'm going to go and put a stop Better Living once and for all." Frenzy didn't hint how she planned to do such a grand thing. "But first, I have to go and find Grace. She went after me when she knew that she'd get captured. I don't know about you, but I don't feel right leaving her behind to those fucks."

"They know you'll go after her, she'll be protected. It's stupid to go after her."

"All the more reason I _should_ go after her. She's valuable to them now because they want me." Frenzy was getting tired of humoring him.

"Just listen to me for two seconds and stop being so damn stubborn." Death-iNation would've laughed if he wasn't positive she'd run out the door and get herself killed. _If she goes out there and is murdered by Destroyer it'll be blood on my hands. Even if she's lying about what's happened out there in the zones I can't in good conscience let her go on her own._

"Fine, you have thirty seconds to talk before I start tearing this place apart to find my guns."

"I have a few friends who know their way pretty well around the City. If anything goes on that I don't hear about, either Marilyn's heard it or Zeppelin has. I can take you to them tonight if you would just calm yourself and think rationally for a few moments." Death-iNation held up his hands defensively and hoped he could convince her. He wasn't sure if Marilyn Deathrow or Zeppelin Rocket would actually be able to help them but he knew it was worth trying them before anything else. Marilyn often dealt with powerful people being that she was a prostitute and people told her things they wouldn't dare tell anyone else and Zeppelin was a pilot and often saw things no one else saw.

"Besides, where would you go to find Grace? Back to that theater? After all the trouble you caused Better Living will have it evacuated before you can get down there if they haven't already. They had to have taken her somewhere else by now and since you were going off of _my_ information to begin with I'm guessing you have no idea where to go." Death-iNation knew he had her in a corner but he wasn't going to point it out since it was likely she'd stubbornly deny it and leave without giving him a chance.

_He's right Frenzy, if you go back to the theater you'll die a quick painless death. You deserve far worse than that anyway don't you? The least I can do is save Grace then I'll die however you want me to, got it? That sounds fair enough, I think we can all agree to that._ Frenzy looked back at Death-iNation after a moment of realizing she was simply staring through him while lost in her thoughts for multiple minutes.

"Come on Frenzy. Just think about it for a little bit. You should eat something before you go anyway. All that medicine you took an hour ago, you're bound to get sick if you don't eat and it might not be effective unless you do." Death-iNation grasped at straws in hopes he would buy himself some more time.

"I'll let you bring me to your friends tonight instead of running off but you better hope they have something useful for me." Frenzy ignored his concern for her churning stomach and paced the length of the room. "I need to see my weapons regardless of whether or not I'm leaving. If they need repairs after the way I'd gotten knocked around, now is the ideal time to do it."

Death-iNation sighed with relief then nodded his head. "I'll get them for you." If nothing else, he'd managed to buy a few more hours before this woman went recklessly after Better Living Industries. Maybe in that time he could find out what her plan was and help her.

* * *

><p>Captain Phantom was tired of having to keep cool and play nice with the Dracs long before that afternoon. Cosmic Karma keeping an eye on her and her brother was just as annoying and constricting as having Jet-Star keeping an eye on her, except at least she <em>knew<em> Jet-Star very well so he hadn't seemed as irritating with his demands. The Drac who had given them some small sliver of information earlier had been given his meal as Jet-Star had promised but he'd clammed up again right after he'd eaten. The only thing he'd done since Cutlass and Phantom had returned to interrogate him was laugh in their faces. He seemed to find how frustrated they were with him amusing.

"Can I please just knock out a few of those damn teeth? Maybe he won't smile so damn much if I do." Phantom cracked her knuckles in frustration. Even her hands were aching to take out their frustration on the Dracs.

"Yeah, if his gums hurt maybe he won't be so eager to try and bite at us every time we get near him." Cutlass had nearly been bitten earlier in the day on several occasions and he had been trying, ever since, to figure out ways to prevent the Dracs from biting them. It'd almost become a sort of game for him to keep him from getting as angry about the Drac in front of them as his sister was.

"You can't knock out his teeth. He needs to be able to properly communicate with us." Cosmic Karma sighed, having caught onto Cutlass' game only a few minutes into their interrogation. "Come on, look… You know you're either going to tell us the truth or you're going to die in here and it's not going to be a pleasant death either." Karma leaned forward. "You see her?" Karma pointed to Captain Phantom.

"She wants to kill you slowly and painfully just to watch you suffer after what you did to her and her crew. And if you don't tell me something about either who the leak amongst the Killjoys is or the facility underground in the fifth zone then I'm going to let her do just that. Very soon too, I'm growing just as impatient with you as they are." Karma was trying to appeal to the Drac but she wasn't nearly as good at it as Jet-Star was. In fact, she only came off as threatening not as helpful.

Perhaps it was just that she couldn't put aside her distaste for the Dracs. If this had been any other situation with the Dracs Karma would have gladly held the Drac down and let Phantom beat the shit out of him but instead she had to do her best to play the good guy because of the potential information they could receive.

"You're barking up the wrong tree, Karma. Just let me deal with him. I'm dying to get in a few good punches." Phantom curled her lip in an annoyed snarl.

"You broke my nose you bitch, you already got your punches!" Much to everyone's surprise the Drac yelled at them in frustration. The three Killjoys exchanged confused looks then turned back to the Drac in hopes he'd say more. "God you Killjoys have no idea what the hell you're dealing with do you? You keep asking _me_ all these questions when you could've just asked Phoenix Fury who came to him with the proof in the first place!"

When the realization dawned on the three of them the Drac couldn't help but laugh. "You really didn't think to ask him did you? You Killjoys are all the same, fucking arrogant and don't see what's right in front of your faces! Why do you think we stopped trying to sneak around? You're always looking for what's not there but when it's right in front of you, no, you just walk right past it like nothing's wrong!"

"Who is the snitch? I'm in here asking you _right_ now so you might as well tell me!" Phantom put her hands on the arms of the chair the Drac was tied to and narrowed her eye at him threateningly.

"Maybe if you let me go, I'll tell you."

"Tell me or you'll _never_ leave this place alive."

"You really think it's going to be that easy?"

"You were right, I can just ask Phoenix Fury." Phantom stood straight and pulled her gun. Cosmic Karma had made the mistake of letting her take it into the interrogation room with her.

"Fine, you really want to know?"

* * *

><p>Kobra Kid's eyes snapped open as he heard a laser fire somewhere in the distance. He'd been in an unconscious stupor for days but now he could think clearly. What was the last thing he remembered vividly? Everything had seemed like a big blur for weeks. He remembered a lot of things that he wasn't sure had happened even. His body had seemed to take on a life of its own while his mind had gone on cruise control. It had been the first time in a long time he'd been able to control his own thoughts. He could hear voices on the other side of the curtain in the infirmary. The fever hadn't relented, which he found odd since he didn't remember <em>having <em>a fever to begin with.

"Did she tell you anything else? Besides that this place was in zone five? Any little hints or anything? At this point every word could mean something." Poison was talking to someone outside of the curtain. He thought it was Poison at least, he couldn't be sure until he saw the man's face since it had been so long. Slowly, as he regained his senses, he remembered what had happened to him out in the desert and the things he'd done in the weeks past.

"No, when the spider took her away with Korse, Disco Bitch was just shouting to try and get away. She didn't get to tell me anything before she attacked me. I told you, she said it was a facility called A-WEB in the fifth zone and then she bashed my head in with a fucking rock." A voice Kobra Kid didn't recognize was communicating with his brother. Kobra's thoughts were detached and strange. He wondered what had happened to Disco Bitch and he wondered what they were talking about. The scenario sounded familiar to him but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"That spider has to be the Widow that Death-iNation was talking about, right? The one from the flyer I mentioned earlier? I can't find the fucking flyer right now but…" Poison hadn't shared where he thought the flyer had gone to, since he'd opted not to deal with the problems Fire Frenzy had already caused him. Starting in on them now seemed like opening a can of worms. He'd thought for sure she'd be back by now, but she wasn't and now after what had happened to Disco he was terrified something similar had happened to her. He knew she was capable of taking care of herself, but who could fight against a giant metallic spider _and_ the Scarecrow?

"Poison." Kobra gasped, his voice barely audible. He forced his body into an upright position which caused him more pain than he would've expected. While his mind wanted to allow him to run to his brother and tell him what he remembered, the rest of his body seemed to be beyond his control. Something was breaking inside of him though. Whatever sickness had gripped him was starting to lose the battle against his willpower. The risk of hurting himself on the way out of his corner was worth it and so Kobra pressed onward. He grabbed onto the curtain in an attempt to steady himself as he lost his balance and instead fell to his knees, bringing the entire curtain and the hangers it was being held up with down onto the ground in a crash.

"Kobra!" Jet-Star rushed to his aid and attempted to help him off of the ground, clearly stunned by the man's actions.

"Let me go Jet!" Kobra's raspy and pained voice sounded foreign to his own ears. _When did I get so sick?_ Jet-Star was so shocked by the coherent response that he didn't attempt to stop Kobra at all for a moment and merely stared. Once it clicked that the man had actually _responded_ to him instead of saying something ridiculous about voices in the walls or spiders, Jet-Star grabbed at him again.

"You need to take it easy Kobra you've been out of it for days!"

"I need to talk to my brother!"

"You can talk to him once you're in bed." Jet-Star wasn't going to give up so easily. After how touch and go Kobra Kid's condition had been for so long, he wasn't going to let him push himself too hard too fast.

"Poison! Party Poison! I need to talk to you! I need you to listen to me it's fucking important!" Kobra Kid was struggling to get to his feet and after a moment of frustration allowed Jet-Star to help him up into a standing position. Poison rushed over to him, away from where Black Cherrybomb was resting on a nearby bed and looked at his brother worriedly with a furrow in his brow.

"I'm right here Kobra, you don't need to shout for me." Relief was flooding through Poison. _Finally, something is turning around in my favor. This could be the little thing I needed to help me get through this. It's been blow after blow for days, we need one for the good guys._ Seeing his brother staring at him with recognition in his eyes meant more to him than anything else in the world.

"Poison!" Kobra looked relieved to see the face of his older brother, even if it was blurred in his feverish vision. He rested both of his sweaty, clammy hands on either side of Poison's neck. "Poison, you're alive. Thank God you're alive."

"So are you, fuck it's so good to see you Kobra."

"It's good to see you too." Kobra gave his brother a weak smile though his expression was still strained.

"Come on, let's get you back into bed. Jet's right, you're going to hurt yourself and you need to keep taking it easy." Poison started to turn his brother but was surprised when Kobra forced him to stay in place by tightening his grip on his neck.

"Stop fretting over me, okay? I've got to tell you something and it's important."

"Whatever it is can wait. Your health is more important than anything right now." Poison insisted.

"He's right Kobra, whatever it is can wait until I've gotten you hooked back up to the IV for some fluids and checked you out okay?"

"No! It can't wait! Poison! It was me! It's all _my_ fault!" Kobra shouted to stop Jet-Star and Party Poison from forcing him back into the bed in the corner of the infirmary. Poison stopped dead in his tracks and stared at his brother. _Don't fucking say that Kobra, don't fucking finish that thought_. Jet-Star pulled back too. Though it didn't need further explanation, Kobra continued on regardless. "It's my fault the Dracs got in, it's my fault that people are trying to kill you! I fed them all the information I could manage. It's _me_ you're looking for Poison. I'm the reason that you can't find Disco Bitch. It's all my fault. I intercepted letters, I faked notices…" Kobra stood alone in the middle of the infirmary, all eyes on him.

Party Poison was pretty sure his heart had stopped beating. He couldn't help but think of Julius Caesar and the betrayal by his most trusted confidant Brutus. _It can't be true, it can't be true he's my fucking brother._ But Party Poison knew it was true and he didn't need any further convincing. Now that he'd actually sat and thought about the things he'd heard in the past week it made sense. Kobra had been the one to tell him about Tiger Beatdown's betrayal. Kobra had known far more about the attack on Jet-Star and his crew than he should have. Kobra had known he was going to the second zone that day after Fire Frenzy.

Kobra had apologized when he'd visited him a few days prior in the infirmary. If only Poison had known that was what he had been apologizing for. Something inside Poison snapped when he'd realized the severity of his confession.

"You son of a bitch!" Poison grabbed Kobra's faded shirt and shoved him hard against the wall of the infirmary, following his shove with a punch to the gut. "You fucking rat! You sold us out! You sold _me_ out to the fucking Draculoids?" Jet-Star was too stunned to react and Black Cherrybomb didn't seem eager to help either.

"Poison, don't! He's already weak!" Neon Rocket was the only one who seemed to have any sense left in him but he wasn't about to get in between the two brothers either.

"Why'd you do it huh? Tired of living in big brother's shadow or were you just fucking bored?" Poison couldn't help himself. The rage he felt for the entire situation was boiling over uncontrollably. "You could've killed us all! Hell you _did_ kill some of us! What did they offer you that made you turn? What made you turn against your own fucking brother! I took care of you for years! For years Kobra! It was just me and you against the fucking world and you _turned_ on me!"

"I'm sorry Poison, I'm so sorry!" Kobra's voice was breaking with emotion.

"You're _sorry_?" Poison felt physically wounded by his betrayal and landed another blow to his brother's face. His knuckles were torn and aching and the pain he was inflicting on his brother did nothing to help the ache he felt in his chest. "You fucking traitor! What did you do with Disco Bitch? What did you _let_ them do to her? What did you do with fucking Frenzy huh? You told me not to chase after her and I swear to god if anything happens I will fucking kill you myself you fucking weasel! You rat!" Poison was shaking and reaching to hit Kobra again. Kobra made no moves to stop him, feeling he deserved the punishment that was being dished out on him.

"Poison! Stop!" Jet-Star finally came to his senses and yelled. It was one thing for Poison to be upset but if he kept attacking Kobra Kid the way he was, then he was going to kill him. The man was still ill and was still his patient despite his betrayal of the Killjoys. Poison wasn't the only one feeling like someone had stabbed him through with a hot poker. Jet-Star had known Kobra for years and hearing this confession from him now made him want to throw up.

Holding his breath Poison looked at his brother whose nose was sufficiently broken now and let go of his shirt, pulling back. Stepping hesitantly backward, Poison turned on his heels, shook his head and without another word left the infirmary. Kobra Kid slid down the wall, barely keeping it together. Jet-Star quickly ran to his aid and threw his arm around his shoulder.

"Someone help me get him up! He needs help now!" Jet-Star yelled and was joined quickly by Neon Rocket who helped him lift Kobra Kid back onto the bed in the far corner.

"Poison! Poison there you are!" Captain Phantom came running up to him, her gun still smoking in her hand and her brother running in close behind her. Whatever she had to say seemed important and she seemed paler than usual.

"I don't have time for you right now Phantom." Poison hissed beneath his breath, figuring she was merely going to ask to kill the Dracs again if she hadn't already, judging by how her gun was smoking.

"The Drac told me who the snitch was! He said it was Kobra Kid. Poison I shot him, there's no way it could be Kobra. They're just trying to turn us against each other again!" Phantom said very quickly, never willing to take no for an answer. As far as she was concerned, the kind of information she had was the kind that Poison had no choice but to have time for. Even if he really had been in a hurry, he had plenty of time to listen as long as she talked quickly.

"It _was_ Kobra. My brother betrayed us all." Party Poison didn't stop or even acknowledge the woman in any other way, merely kept walking. He had to blow off some steam before he lost his mind.

Captain Phantom and Commander Cutlass watched Party Poison walk away in disbelief. If he said it was Kobra Kid, then the Drac hadn't been lying and Phantom had killed him for no reason.

"Now what?" Cutlass broke the awkward silence.

"I have no idea."


	27. You Can't Hide From the Scarecrow

Blood splattered on the concrete fence bordering Battery City as Vengeful Venom smashed his knuckles into the face of an already beaten and bloodied Draculoid. Three days of searching and he'd found next to nothing in his search for the Instigate Obliterate Destroy project he'd discovered so long ago in his attempt to get away from the experiments that had been run on him. Old wounds were still sore as he thought about them.

The old Better Living headquarters he'd escaped from in his past was no longer standing and had been replaced with a seedy looking restaurant that had been flooded with Dracs enjoying their evening after their shifts. It had disgusted him to see the Dracs enjoying themselves so merrily. Vengeful Venom had searched the perimeter of Battery City the best that he could. All the years he'd spent hiding underground from Better Living and sneaking through the zones unnoticed with Rainbow Riot had finally paid off in Battery City while he kept to the shadows and managed to remain unseen for the three days he'd been searching.

Three days searching was two days too long for Venom's tastes though. Determination had given him the bravery to return to the restaurant he'd found the first night away from Riot that had replaced the lab he'd worked in so many years ago. He'd managed to blend in with the other Dracs at the restaurant thanks to the bar code on his neck and the muted colors in his costume. Luckily when he'd become a Killjoy he'd decided to stray away from the outlandish colors the other Killjoys seemed so proud of.

Those Dracs around him at the bar of the restaurant seemed to think that he'd been marked with some kind of special symbol rather than a poor attempt to cross out the code on his neck that he'd been branded with ages ago. _I guess the Dracs haven't gotten any smarter since I left either. Their willingness to believe whatever they were told was astounding._ He'd thought they'd be suspicious of everyone they came into contact with after all of the chaos the Killjoys had caused in the last week.

Once inside the restaurant he'd made his way to the bar and fed drinks to a few of the Dracs there, exchanging war stories the way that they so enjoyed, in hopes of getting some information from them. He'd forgotten just how like rowdy fraternity boys the Dracs could be. In disgust he recalled what it was like to be one of the idiots at the bar, downing drinks until he couldn't walk straight or see properly.

Luckily he'd gotten better at pretending to drink and had managed to give most of his glasses away and fake inebriated. When one of the Dracs had stumbled off of his barstool to go to the restroom, Venom had gotten up with him and offered to give him a hand, deciding to make his move at last. Sadly, he'd pretended to be an incredibly convincing drunk, stumbling with his newfound _friend_ to the back hallways of the restaurant where he'd knocked him out and dragged him through the back door without any trouble, which had also surprised him.

He'd carried the Drac to the border of the City under the guise of taking him home after having one too many if spotted. He knew he could hide from the video cameras that stood on the corners of the city streets as long as he stayed near the perimeter. Better Living was fairly efficient when it came to monitoring the citizens of Battery City but the walls around the damn place were so high that the cameras mounted on top had a blind spot right against the edge of the wall. Lucky for Vengeful Venom, the wall was only working to his advantage. Better Living had thought they'd been clever building such a high wall, when it reality most of the Killjoys thought it was a joke.

"Fucking traitor…" The Drac, now conscious, spat the mouthful of blood out onto the ground, along with a tooth and slumped to the asphalt beneath him while making a pathetic attempt with his beaten arms to push up off of the ground. Alcohol was clouding the Dracs mind and physical prowess and he fell flat on his face, a noise of disgust and discomfort coming from his lips. He decided to lay there and await Venom's next move there from the ground, his spinning head being far too much to combat.

"You're the traitors! You see the way you fucking treat people like they're some sort of game for you to play? That's being a traitor to your _race_. I'm trying to set things straight"

"People are _stupid_, fucking panicky creatures who are incapable of making their own decisions without guidance so we make it easy on them. You should be _thanking_ us for taking the burden off of humanity!" The Drac managed to pull his knees beneath his body and sat up carefully, wiping the blood from his lips and only succeeding in smearing it across his face. His body swayed still dangerously from blood loss and alcohol consumption.

"So that gives you the right to control them like toys? It gives Better Living the right to just wind them up and let them go about their day until they need to be rewound?" Vengeful Venom's lip twitched in annoyance. That line of thinking had gotten so many people needlessly killed and tortured. Better Living had taken all of the living out of life. Knuckles aching, he gave them a rest and kicked hard at the Drac's ribs, inciting a cough from his enemy and another groan of discomfort.

"What do you want from me, anyway? Why would you do this to any of us? You were one of us at some point, I can tell by that barcode on your neck! If you're just trying to taunt me then you are wasting your breath!"

"You brainwashed idiot, it's game over now." Venom knelt down and grabbed at the Drac's white shirt, shoving the back of his head hard against the concrete wall with a sickeningly loud crack.

"Go to hell, traitor!"

"Oh don't worry, I'll see you down there but long after you!" Venom's eyes narrowed and he leaned dangerously close to the Drac, wrapping his white gloved hands around his throat and giving it enough of a squeeze to constrict his breathing. Knowing very well the Drac couldn't answer properly while being choked, Venom started to ask his questions anyway. Fear was the best way to manipulate _anyone_. It was one of the only things he'd learned from Better Living that'd stuck with him. "The IOD project… Where is it? Where is Better Living keeping those monsters? I know they're in the City."

His hostage's eyes widened in surprise but he shook his head as if to communicate he had no idea what he was talking about. The recognition Venom had seen in his hostage's eyes was enough to realize he was lying. "Oh, you know what I'm talking about you little fuck and if you don't tell me where they're keeping it now then I'm going to dig my fingers through your fucking throat and rip out your vocal cords." Venom dug his fingers into the man's flesh, staring coldly at him. It'd been years since he felt so murderous toward anything. Unlike the years he'd spent hurting innocent people with Better Living, Venom felt no joy for the things he was doing. His words even surprised his own mind, considering he'd been mostly a pacifist since he'd left the Dracs. _Violence is in my blood, it always has been. Sometimes I just hide it better than others and I'm not proud of that. _

Though the threat seemed to have some kind of an effect on the Drac, he still shook his head in objection as if to say he wouldn't talk and had no idea what Venom was getting at. Being a pacifist had only come natural to him because of all the time he'd spent with Rainbow Riot and how she'd always reminded him of how if someone hadn't shown mercy on _him_ for many years, it's likely he would've been the one dead and tortured. But now, sitting here with his nails digging into the throat of a Drac even though he wore gloves, hard enough to draw blood, desperately searching for answers, Vengeful Venom knew he'd feel no guilt if he kept his promise to the Drac about what he'd do if he didn't respond. _I don't care what people say, some people just deserve it._

"You know what? After I do that? I'll stitch you the fuck back up. Just so you won't fucking die so damn quickly and then we'll continue from there. You don't deserve such a fast death do you? How does that sound to you, party boy?" Venom squeezed harder, watching the face of the Drac turn red and seeing the fear in his eyes very suddenly. Apparently the Drac had realized finally that Venom was serious with his threats and he was in a very precarious position unless he decided to talk.

Coughing and sputtering, making sudden wild attempts to pull Venom's arms away from his throat the Drac attempted to make words at last. Relaxing his grip just enough to offer the Drac some relief and the ability to talk, Venom smiled successfully. This was the defining moment of the interrogation. If the Drac broke, he'd get what he needed and if he didn't, he'd kill him in an instant and start again with a different Drac. He wouldn't stop until someone had stopped him or he'd achieved his goal. Even if it meant he had to kill a dozen Dracs before he found out what he needed to know, it would be worth it in the end. _I promised Riot I'd return to her a man she'd be proud to love and I'm going to keep that promise. I pity whoever they send to try and stop me._

"Please! Please don't kill me. Don't hurt me… Don't… don't fucking do that thing with my vocal cords! I need them!" The Drac was panicking. Venom wouldn't have been surprised if he was pissing his pants on the asphalt with how squeaky and pathetic his voice sounded; he was much like a teenager being threatened, his voice squeaking as if going through puberty.

"If you have any hope of living through this then I suggest you tell me what I want to know and you do it quickly. I'm losing my fucking patience" Venom snarled, showing off the fangs he'd never bother to dull after being a member of the Dracs. He'd never been particularly proud of them but knew what kind of an effect they had on people.

"Why are you looking for IOD? They'll kill you if you go looking for them, those unstable fucks. They kill _everyone_ even if you're trying to fucking help them they just rip you to shreds!" The Drac coughed pathetically, regaining some of the stability in his voice.

"What do _you_ care if I die or not? My business with them is my own and all you need to do is save your ass."

"You were one of us once." The Drac furrowed his brow and Vengeful Venom paused, confused by the sudden camaraderie. He'd never seen the Dracs show any loyalty to a traitor in the past but now this man here he'd spent the last hour beating on was actually feeling some kind of sick connection with him because of the bar code he'd once worn proudly as a symbol of his loyalty to Better Living Industries. _What if they're not all a lost cause?_

"I _was_ one of you because I was a stupid teenager who didn't understand what Better Living was really fucking doing to the people in this City. I wanted to make a difference, not destroy everything I touched! What's _your_ excuse, huh? You've got to be old enough to know what goes on in this City and understand what Better Living is really doing, what goes on out there in the zones!"

"We're making this place a better world for everyone!" The Drac spat, desperate to defend his role in the grand scheme of things. It was easy for Venom to forget that the new breed of Dracs was brainwashed, particularly when he was feeling this angry.

"You're taking away people's rights to _live_, that has nothing to do with bettering this world, you asshole! You may not _see_ it right now but by being what you are, you're the same as the masses being herded like cattle. You're just the mother fucking sheep dog that Better Living has on a fucking tight leash!"

"You're wrong." The Drac gasped for breath as he felt Venom's hands squeezing his throat again threateningly.

"I'm _not_ you fuck, now tell me where they're keeping the IOD project or I'll…" Venom didn't have to finish his thought as the Drac started to sob in response to the recurring threat. "Tell me where they're testing it. I know it's in the City near the eastern entrance to the first zone, I just need to know where because I _can't_ find it on my own. _Tell me!_" Venom was so close to what he wanted to know he was overly eager, a wicked grin over his face.

"There's an old theater." The Drac started through sobs, tears and snot dripping down his face. "It's near the eastern entrance, you're right. For awhile it was being used to lure in orphans for free movies and food with the real intention of kidnapping them and using them as experiments in the lower levels of the theater. The urchins on the street, they are smarter than Better Living gives them credit for! It only took the kids a week to realize it was a trap and to spread the word to avoid the place like the plague."

"I asked where IOD is, not where they're experimenting on kids."

"Let me finish!" The Drac sobbed, holding his hands up in panic as if to try to get him to stop choking him. His throat was turning black and blue from the way Venom had been holding it and he could feel how wounded his voice already was from the beating he'd taken.

"Make it quick, then. I'm running out of patience."

"Once Better Living realized their lure wasn't working they decided to continue the experimental end of the theater and positioned IOD there and used it for tests until they were ready to go out onto the field. Nothing's gone properly since then! Those three are out of their heads. Whatever experiment they were running on them they're trying to perfect on the new subjects. IOD is _flawed_ and as far as I've seen they're going to destroy themselves, not any of those fucking Killjoys. I don't know why you'd go looking for them, it's suicidal!"

"So IOD is in the theater, being monitored and experimented on?" Venom clarified the information from the Drac who was trembling in terror beneath his hands.

"Yes, yes please don't kill me! Please, I have a family… I took this job for the money… I never wanted to hurt anyone!" The Drac was sobbing uncontrollably as Venom got to his feet, thinking over the information he'd managed to squeeze from his victim.

"I wish I believed you." Venom stared into the distance for a moment, then pulled his ray gun from his holster and fired a shot to the Drac's head. _That's all it takes._ The Drac slumped against the wall, blood and brain matter spattered behind him in an almost artistic looking spray of gore. _One pull of the trigger._ Empty eyes stared up at Venom, the pleading look all but gone from them, mouth still open in horror in realization, dripping with blood and drool. Venom turned away and walked along the concrete wall and back toward the eastern entrance of Battery City.

About half a mile into his walk Venom stopped and hunched forward, coughing and gagging as the contents of his stomach emptied onto the concrete beneath his feet. He'd talked a big game and even felt disgustingly satisfied with what he had done but the actual _killing_ and how easy it had been to do was enough to make him sick to his stomach. Tears blurred his vision for a few moments but he blinked them away before they fell then wiped his lips and continued on his way toward the theater. There was no time to be sickened by his actions and no time for regret and remorse. He'd done what he'd vowed not to do again after he'd left the Dracs and he had to deal with it. Killing even _one_ person just because the ends justified the means made him as bad as the organization he'd left.

"I'll be done killing soon enough." Venom whispered his promise as he walked into the parking lot of the old theater. He'd walked past that place twelve times at least in the last day and hadn't taken a second glance at it. Now that he was walking through the parking lot he could see blood on the asphalt. Kneeling down he brushed his fingers over the dried stain on the ground and wondered what had happened. The blood was old so he guessed it was from a test that had been done days prior. _If IOD is such a grand failure, according to the Dracs, then why the hell is Better Living still wasting their time on them? There has to be more that they're not telling their Dracs if they're spending this much time and effort on this, not to mention funding._

Venom looked around for a side door to the building and found some caution tape ripped down the middle. To his surprise the door wasn't locked _at all_ and though he found this suspicious, he was willing to take any risk to get to the bottom of IOD. If the Drac he'd killed had been leading him into some kind of an elaborate trap then he'd just have to risk the consequences. For some reason though, Venom felt like the Drac had been telling the truth. While he was feeling brave was the best time to continue on his adventure into the theater. Despite having gotten sick to his stomach after killing the Drac, he felt the adrenaline of the interrogation coursing through him, making him feel invincible.

Creeping through the dark room, Venom closed his eyes while he walked, one hand against the wall to help guide him. He'd do this for a few more moments until his eyes had adjusted to the blackness surrounding him and he could make out more than shapes and shadows. The overwhelming smell of blood met him in the main hallway and he covered his mouth instinctively to block out the smell. Reaching into his pocket he pulled a handkerchief out and tied it around his face to help block out the scent of death and gore.

Whatever had happened in here had happened recently enough to leave such a strong smell. It wasn't rotting flesh he smelled or anything similar to corpses that had been left to rot for days, it was blood; fresh blood at that. Someone had recently been bled dry, at the very least, in this hallway.

Venom crept into the main room of the theater and spotted trails of blood on the floor as well as what looked like the charred remains of a concession stand. Someone had set a fire in here but it'd been doused out by the emergency sprinklers overhead which were still dripping, creating ghostly echoes all around him. At least that's what Venom deduced from the way the carpet smelled musty and felt wet and squishy beneath his boots. He'd check the theaters themselves first and look for anyone on guard within them. If he could take out the guards one at a time then it'd be easier for him to escape if he was caught sneaking inside of the building by cameras later on.

Luckily the shadows around him were currently working to his advantage to keep him hidden and he stayed as close to the wall as he could so he hoped that whatever cameras the Dracs had installed in the building were merely catching a shadow moving as he crept. Once again he was grateful that his outfit was mostly dark muted colors, minus the red bowtie he wore.

Opening the first door of the theater, Venom had to stumble back into the main room, covering his mouth and gagging at the smell that met him. It was worse in that particular theater than anywhere else so far. His eyes watered from the foulness of the stench but hand still over his mouth, Venom trudged into the theater. Emergency lighting illuminating the floor allowed him to see the gore splashed on the seats and the walls. He stopped short as he felt something squish beneath his feet and nearly gagged and vomited again when he realized it was an eyeball he'd stepped on. It lay squished beneath his feet, a bundle of nerves getting caught within the crevices of the bottom of his shoe. _Keep your calm Venom, deep breaths. It's just an eyeball. A very squished, recently living eyeball._

Venom backed out of the theater once he was sure it was abandoned and hunched forward with his hands on his knees, coughing and gagging and gasping for the slightly fresher air. It looked like people had been dismembered inside of the first theater and no one had bothered to clean it up. _At least now the smell throughout the rest of the building could be explained._ Venom was tempted to skip the rest of the theaters due to what he'd found but at the risk of whatever had _done_ the dismembering in the first theater being hidden in one of the others he forced himself to continue on to the second one. The last thing he wanted to do was be ambushed by some sort of murderous creature while he was searching the rest of the theater.

A few deep breaths had given him the courage he needed, along with the sight of the gore having disappeared from his mind's eye at last. _Though I'm not sure I'm ever going to forget what it feels like to crush an eyeball beneath the sole of my shoe and pry it out from the bottom of it._

Seven theaters later, Venom had discovered that none of the others had been covered in gore the way that the first one had been. In fact, all the seats were completely missing from the other theaters and it looked like someone had spent hours cleaning. At least that's what Venom had thought by the strong scent of cleaning fluid that had met him in each room.

It looked like that facility had been abandoned a few days prior and for a few moments Venom contemplated giving up and checking with another Drac to try and find some updated information but he decided he should look for some kind of control room instead. When he'd work with the Dracs he'd managed to learn his way around computers fairly well and if he could hack into what remained of the control room here he'd perhaps find out what had happened to close this facility down. _Maybe I'll get lucky and IOD killed themselves in that room and no one will have to deal with them again. The Drac had mentioned that they were going to destroy themselves in the end._

He highly doubted there would be any truth to that thought so instead he headed down the hallway and walked toward an Employees Only door. Opening the door he found stairs that descended downward into a poorly lit hallway. _Really predictable, a hidden lab in the basement. Better Living hasn't gotten any more creative over the years, it seems._

Once down the stairs he found a hallway with doors on either side of it. The lights were still burning on the ceiling, but half of them had flickered out or were covered with some kind of debris or disgusting slime that Venom couldn't make out quite what it was. Deciding he didn't want to know what it was Venom moved through the scene that seemed like it belonged in a horror movie and not an old movie theater and opened the first door on his left. The first two rooms were empty but the third stopped him dead in his tracks.

There were wires and IVs hanging from the ceiling, some half torn down and others still perfectly intact. Gray corpses of children on the edge of decay were laying on gurneys throughout the room in rows, some attached to the wires and some seemingly freed from them by someone who had been there before him.

There seemed to be a more peaceful look about the ones that had been freed from the wires while the others still look tortured. _How does that work? They're all dead, there's no way that they're still being tortured past that. Death is supposed to be the ultimate release._ Venom backed out of the room and said a prayer for the lost souls under his breath. A nagging feeling in his chest told him he should return to the room and pull the rest of the wires free from the children but he felt as though he didn't have that kind of time. If Better Living had wanted this building to remain undiscovered it would've been torn down in some way, not left standing and unguarded for anyone to stumble upon. Surely some kind of watch had to have been going on and there had to be a reason it hadn't been torched or built over.

Venom continued down the hall, swallowing the guilt that came with abandoning the corpses of the children who'd been experimented on in the third room. The last room at the very end of the hallway proved more fruitful than the ones prior. A computer system, still lit up, lining the wall with a large screen against the far wall was humming and monitoring the building. All the video cameras he'd seen in the building were displayed on the screen.

He could see a light flashing in the corner letting the user of the computer of the intruder who'd broken the perimeter. Hand on his ray gun Venom investigated the rest of the room before deciding he really _was_ alone. Luckily he had access to all of the video cameras and could keep watch on the rest of the facility in case someone actually did come after him.

Venom manipulated the keypad of the computer but a login screen popped up, obscuring his view of all the files that he'd been trying to access. _I knew it was too easy to walk in here like this._ A prompt to please scan a barcode flashed in front of him. His fingers brushed over the marked over code on his neck and he partially wondered if the thing still worked. _Is it worth the risk?_

Better Living had him on the wanted list but had they ever thought to disable his file access? It was worth the risk in the long run, or at least he decided it was, so Venom found the scanner and pulled the collar of his shirt down enough for the bar code to be scanned properly. Holding his breath he watched the computer system think and after a moment sighed in relief as the files came back up on the screen.

Ninety percent of the folders had been emptied or marked as a failure while one folder marked _Decontamination _seemed filled to the brim with files_._ Venom opened the folder and clicked a file called _Target_. Pictures of a woman he recognized popped up on the screen. Fire Frenzy had been plastered on a wanted poster of her own and labeled as dangerous with the words "kill on sight" written beneath her picture that had been crossed out with a big red mark. The second picture was of a man with the same words beneath his picture. Venom didn't recognize him but he read the words double agent underneath the orders to kill and guessed he was some kind of sleeper cell.

Reading further into the files, Venom had found Better Living's reasons for listing the two as wanted. The _real _reasons mixed with the cover story they'd end up telling the public when they listed them as wanted.

_Death-iNation worked amongst those leading the Scarecrow Unit and New Weapons Department of Better Living Industries for two years and while his future looked promising it was discovered he had abandoned his post a few weeks ago. He was discovered aiding a known arsonist a few days ago at the IOD experimental center. He is considered a traitor against Better Living's cause and should be considered dangerous for the knowledge he possesses and could possibly reveal to our enemies if allowed to leave the City._

_Fire Frenzy had eluded the Draculoids and Scarecrow Unit for years undetected and has, until now, been marked as an unknown weapons dealer and arsonist out in the zones. She was finally identified breaking into the City and is responsible for the murder of eleven innocent children as well as triggering Destroyer and Instigator and causing a scene amongst the citizens of Battery City, causing us to release our exterminators to clean up the mess. Dangerous and unstable, the woman is to be killed on sight since she's been known to even go as far as blowing up the theater she was seen in earlier in the week to elude capture._

_Posters have been wallpapered throughout the City of these two most dangerous criminals. A curfew has been put into effect for ordinary citizens and anyone found out past curfew will be treated as an enemy, detained and decontaminated until we're sure they have nothing to do with the events over the past week._

"Blew up the theater?" Venom whispered and as if on cue a voice from the computer began to speak. _Of course, I should've seen it._

"Self destruct sequence will begin in sixty seconds. Fifty nine. Fifty eight…" The voice continued to count down and the files automatically shut down in front of Venom's eyes and began to erase themselves. _They were going to blow up the building and blame it on Fire Frenzy to add to her record. _What he didn't understand was why they would have to falsify a crime against her when she clearly had so many already against her. _Of course they just want to blame the explosion on an enemy as to incite fear within the people even further. Fear mongering, pill pushing assholes._

The clock continued to countdown and Venom decided it was finally time for him to go. There was no hope of him disarming whatever destruct system had been set up and now that he'd thought about it properly, the smell he'd mistaken for cleaning fluid in the theaters was more than likely an accelerant that would aid in the burning of the building to the ground and destroying any evidence of the experiments they were running. Fire Frenzy may have been listed as an arsonist, but the worst arsonists in Battery City were Better Living Industries.

Running through the building and up the stairs, no longer worrying about being heard or seen by cameras, Venom reached the front doors. Pulling his ray gun out of its holster he fired several shots at the glass doors and jumped through them once the glass had shattered and fallen to the ground. It wasn't worth checking to see if they were locked at that point, he didn't have that kind of time. Shooting them had just been easier and since no one was in the building he figured he wouldn't alert anyone. He ran through the parking lot as far as he could manage to try and avoid being wounded in the blast that was surely to come at any moment.

The lot was eerily quiet as he ran until suddenly an ear splitting crash shook the ground beneath Venom. First the windows of the building blew followed by the walls crashing outward. The roof of the building collapsed in on itself and the sheer force of the blast forced Venom off of his feet and face first into the asphalt.

Covering his head instinctually to avoid further damage, Venom remained face down on the ground until he was sure the blast behind him had finished its damage and wouldn't knock him down again. Several smaller eruptions of fire burst after the initial blow which Venom attributed to the buildup of the fumes inside the poorly ventilated theater rooms. Ears ringing, Venom slowly pushed himself onto his knees, every muscle in his body feeling sore from the force of the explosion. Opening his eyes he stopped dead as he saw a familiar pair of black boots standing just in front of him.

Korse stood in front of him, looking rather pleased with himself. Kneeling down Korse twitched his head to the side and watched him curiously.

"Hello there, Vengeful Venom." Korse smiled cryptically. Despite him speaking his name, there was no recognition in his hollow eyes. _How does he know my Killjoy name? I changed it when I left._ Cold hands met his throat and pulled him easily off of the ground and close to the Scarecrow's face. It was easy to forget how strong the Scarecrow was until he was lifting something heavy off the ground much like it was a feather. "You _really_ thought we didn't change your information when you left the organization? Stupid of you, really. We would've never known you were here if you hadn't scanned yourself in. You could've disappeared into the night like nothing happened."

"Go to hell, Korse!"

"That's the Scarecrow to you, vile man." Korse forced Vengeful Venom to his feet. Venom had wanted to have words with Korse for years but before he had reached for his gun, Korse had his own and had smashed the butt end of it into the side of Venom's head.

Venom collapsed in a bundle of black clothing on the floor, unconscious. Korse observed the man on the ground and walked around him before kicking him several times, before spitting on him.

"Pathetic." Korse turned away from the body of the man and nodded to the Dracs he'd brought with him to take the man in. The Dracs hurried over to Vengeful Venom and picked him up, dragging him into the black car Korse had ridden in.

* * *

><p>Rainbow Riot paced in front of entrance of the eastern Killjoy camp, glancing every so often at the silhouette of Battery City in the distance. Not bothering to run off since she was sure the guard in the remaining watchtower was keeping an eye on her, she continued her quiet contemplation. The hustle and bustle of the camp had become more than she could stand over the last few hours. She wondered what had become of the man she loved and had been reliving all of the times he'd told her he wasn't good enough from the very beginning. It wasn't like it had been some big secret that Venom had felt he didn't deserve her love, but she'd kept trying to change his thoughts on it. Now she'd realized there was no way she could have ever changed his mind. Only when he had realized it on his own could he truly be free of the guilt he felt. Leaning against the outer wall of the camp she remembered the first time they'd met in the desert so many years ago.<p>

She'd been roaming through the fourth zone in search of a person she'd had an appointment with in regards to some battle plans she had been hired to make for them. While she couldn't remember the details of that particular sale, she did remember the events that had taken place after her meeting. A Drac, bloody and beaten, and looking utterly defeated was being pushed around by some Killjoys in the street. He had been trying to convince them that he was on their side and they had clearly _not_ believed him. They were calling him filthy names and trying to get him to admit his treacherous intent.

One of the Killjoys had eventually gotten so fed up with him that they had him pushed to the ground with their ray gun in the Drac's face. They had been trying to force him to say that he was a traitor and to apologize for the way he'd so stupidly tried to trick them. Unable to watch anyone be tortured that way, Riot had stepped in and scared the Killjoys off. Even when faced with death, the Drac had insisted he'd changed and wanted to help the Killjoys and that had struck Rainbow Riot as peculiar.

The Drac introduced himself as Zachary after the Killjoys had left him be and thanked her for what she'd done for him but had also told her that they had been right about him in the same breath. He admitted even then that he was a coward and deserved to die at the hand of the Killjoys for the things he'd done.

She hadn't believed that story, even back then. There had been something so defeatist about his attitude that she knew he had some kind of guilt on his shoulders he had been trying to relieve. That was enough for her to help him out of the sticky situation he'd found himself in. When he had asked her why she'd saved him she'd told him that no one deserved to be treated like that, not even a Drac and particularly one that was trying to help the Killjoys, not hurt them. He had been astounded that she'd believed him without any proof.

From that moment on the two of them had a bond that she'd never felt with anyone else before or after. She'd given Zachary the Killjoy name Vengeful Venom which had seemed appropriate given how bent on stopping Better Living she had discovered he'd become.

_I miss him_. _So much._ She slumped her shoulders and covered her face in her hands to hide her puffy eyes. Maybe he'd return the way that everyone had kept telling her he would. Black Cherrybomb wouldn't be able to help her search for him in the City now, not after the way he'd taken that nasty blow to the head. Jet-Star had recommended that the man stay several days to recover from the wound and she wasn't going to ask him to go with her like that when he'd already been through so much. She was sure he'd still insist upon helping her, but they'd be getting into more danger with him as wounded as he was than they would if she went by herself.

However, she'd also come to realize that this wasn't something she _could_ do on her own. She needed someone to help her get into the City. It would be selfish of her to go into the City, given her present condition and the risk it would pose to a child who had no choice in where its life would go yet.

"Are you busy?" A deep voice interrupted her thoughts very suddenly. Rainbow Riot looked up almost defensively and upon realizing it was Phoenix Fury she didn't drop her defenses. It was _his_ fault any of them were in this mess to begin with and even though she'd heard his intentions were pure she couldn't help but be bitter to see the way that the Killjoys had acted under his short stint of leader of them. _He isn't fit to be a Killjoy, Poison is an idiot for keeping him around. It pisses me off that he wouldn't let someone as noble as Vengeful Venom in at face value, but this asshole tears the Killjoys apart from top to bottom and he still gets to stick around._

"No." Riot cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I was just asking because you looked like you were having some intense inner monologue." Phoenix tried to smile at the woman in an attempt to clear the tense air but even his charming dimples couldn't do anything for the way she felt currently.

"I was and you have already more than interrupted so what do you need from me?" Riot said impatiently. _I've got to give it to him though, he's got a lot of balls staying here and trying to help get us out of this situation, even if it is partially his fault it happened in the first place._ Rainbow Riot tried to remind herself that if it hadn't been Phoenix Fury who had been manipulated then it would've been some other poor sap in his place. In fact, the more she thought about it the more she realized how lucky they were that the man had any sort of moral compass or brains to speak of.

He had been more than willing to admit he was wrong and to try and make amends for the things he'd done during the time he'd been led astray by the Dracs undercover amongst the Killjoys. Releasing the tension in her shoulders at last, Riot pushed away from the wall and turned to face Phoenix Fury.

"A few of my men from the western zone received my message and managed to escape to come here. Apparently the Dracs have more than taken over in the west zone and have even killed a number of the Killjoys who I'd had standing guard over there. They realized that there were Dracs amongst them and had tried to take charge but were outnumbered and held hostage. Regardless, I sat down with a few of the others and wrote down some plans of attack and I was hoping that you would have some time to look over them. I know you're supposed to be really good at this. You are the one who took _me_ down after all." Phoenix explained, holding up a notebook and shaking it as if to show her the plans were inside of it.

"You're not in charge anymore, you should go talk to Party Poison and then he can come and talk to me about it. Not you. You have _no_ power remember?" Riot turned away from Phoenix Fury. For a fleeting moment she had thought that perhaps he'd stop being the cocky bastard they'd overthrown a few days prior but instead here he was trying to step right back into Party Poison's shoes and acting like he'd been such a worthy adversary.

"That would be all fine and dandy if Party Poison hadn't _asked_ me to do this. I'm just following _orders_ like everyone else okay?" Phoenix spat with disdain. He'd met nothing but resistance from the Killjoys since he'd been overthrown and while he understood why they were giving him a hard time it made it hard to accomplish anything. The work he was doing was actually important and these Killjoys giving him the constant runaround was getting old very quickly.

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Oh fuck me, come on!" Phoenix Fury walked around Rainbow Riot and faced her again. "Look, you can go ahead and ask Party Poison yourself if you want but he even admitted he is emotionally compromised right now due to finding out what he did about his fucking brother and he asked me to take care of the western base and battle plans and shit so here I am asking your opinion on it because I hear you're a damn good strategist and the one responsible for putting me in my fucking place! So either you can go ahead and waste your damn time talking to Poison and giving the Dracs more time to kill people in the western base or you can look at the fucking plans with me!"

"Phoenix Fury…" Rainbow Riot began on what Phoenix was sure was going to be a rant on how he needs to understand why people were upset with him and giving him a tough time but he didn't let her continue.

"I _get_ it. I fucked up when Kobra Kid told me what his brother was up to! He told me that everyone was in on it, that the people Party Poison trusted most were just as fucking corrupt because he was giving them everything they could've wanted in return for them looking the other way. I should've gone to Jet-Star or fucking Captain Phantom but instead I took matters into my own hands because I thought that it would be futile talking to people so far under his fucking thumb! I was _wrong_ and I'm _sorry_ that I have fucked up everything for everyone but how the hell am I supposed to make amends if people are constantly going to give me the run around! I am _not_ some stupid asshole teenager who just feeling mutinous!"

"Phoenix-"

"No! I'm tired of hearing it! If you don't want to help me? Fine then, don't fucking help me." Phoenix turned and took a deep breath. He'd been holding in that rant since he'd been chewed out by Party Poison a few days prior and it had felt good to get it out but at the same time solved none of his problems. At least he'd apologized to _somebody_ though. He hadn't quite figured out how to do that until then. _What do I say? Hey sorry I fucked up everything for the Killjoys and overthrew an entire organization leaving it in shambles and making us vulnerable to the Draculoids and whatever the hell else Better Living Industries has planned._ _Yeah, I'm sure that would go over incredibly well. Remind everyone why they hate me._

"Phoenix Fury, I will _help_ you if you just stop ranting for a few seconds." Rainbow Riot couldn't help but smile a little bit. She hadn't ever intended to continue arguing with him. Of course, she had planned on checking in with Party Poison at some point discreetly to make sure that Phoenix Fury wasn't stepping on his toes but the man had seemed incredibly eager to help the Killjoys and make up for what he'd done.

She couldn't help but be reminded of Vengeful Venom and how eager he'd been to make amends for what he'd done in the past and it had melted her heart to see Phoenix Fury so eager to do the same. Of course, there was a huge difference between the two men and she'd had more than just that reason to try and help him, but it was remembering how Venom had said repeatedly that all a man could do to truly apologize for what he'd done was to prove himself that had solidified the fact that she wanted to look over the plans for Phoenix Fury. _Though, I will admit, it was kind of nice to hear him admit that he was sorry and an idiot. I'm sure that everyone else would love to hear that from him too even if they wouldn't know how to react to it._

"Wait, what?" Phoenix hadn't seemed prepared for that response and turned to face the woman again.

"I'll help you."

"…why?"

"Because you asked me to." Rainbow Riot cautiously approached the man and took the notebook from his hands. She flipped through the first pages and saw the diagrams and maps drawn out with precision for the western zone. It was a place she'd never been to or even seen before but it looked like Phoenix has really done his homework when he'd planned these things.

"That's the only reason?"

"And because it's clear that you're really sorry and you're actually trying to help. It takes a lot of guts to apologize and admit you were wrong particularly when the consequences could be so grim." Rainbow Riot remembered how she'd talked to Vengeful Venom that first day when she'd told him how everyone deserved a chance to make up for the wrongs they'd done. "People screw up. It's what we do. But it's not our mistakes that define us, it's the way we handle them." Phoenix Fury stared at the woman in confusion.

"…Huh." Phoenix was clearly thinking about what she'd said but couldn't think of a better response to it. He hadn't expected her to actually be wise.

"Come on, let's go and sit down somewhere so we can take a better look at what you've got planned. Your maps, if nothing else, seem incredibly detailed so this should help quite a bit." Rainbow Riot urged him to walk back through the open gates of the eastern camp.

"You know, you're a lot smarter than I expected." Phoenix Fury walked next to her and into the camp. Rainbow Riot shoved at his arm, which had no effect due to his muscular build, but still proved her point.

"And you were doing so well for a few minutes there." Riot laughed for the first time since Vengeful Venom had left but quickly her face returned to the solemn look it'd taken on since she'd woken up to find that note lying next to her instead of the man she loved. _Please Venom, be okay._


	28. Playing With Fire

"Once the sun's gone down I'll take you to see my friend Marilyn Deathrow. I don't know where exactly she's been hanging out during the day lately. Usually she's here with me when things get this nasty in the City. But she had some usual haunts that we can check out and hopefully one of them will be fruitful." Death-iNation instructed Fire Frenzy who showed very little interest in him and his personal life. Surely she was curious of who these people were that were going to help her, she had to be.

"And who is Marilyn Deathrow? That doesn't sound _exactly_ like a Killjoy name so she's not a normal contact is she?" Fire Frenzy seemed to guess more about the situation than Death-iNation had thought she had. Perhaps that's why she hadn't seemed at all interested to know what their relationship had been, she had already guessed and assumed. Something told him though that Frenzy wasn't the kind to just assume without having fact to back up her grand assumptions.

"Marilyn is her pseudonym; it's not her real name. It's a nod to Marilyn Monroe. But yes, she is only _sort_ of a Killjoy." Death-iNation smiled as he watched Frenzy flipping through the books he had in the corner. She looked impatient and eager to get on with her work in the City. He wondered what was going on with that lighter she kept flicking every few moments, but he was beginning to guess it was some kind of nervous habit. It was a relief to see her looking much healthier than she had earlier in the day though. Even after she'd taken the drugs she'd been unusually pale, which he guessed was from the blood she lost in the fight against Destroyer. He could only do so much for her without the proper medical supplies, so her body would have to supply the replacement blood on its own.

Luckily after a few hours she'd regained some color and clearly she'd regained her strength with how she'd been manically walking around the apartment looking for more information.

"I was guessing that was it, not sure why. Not like Marilyn is a very common name anyway, it's always been more of a stage name." Frenzy shrugged her shoulder and tilted her head to the side as she looked at some notes scribbled inside of one of the novels she'd picked up. Closing the cover to check what the book was she discovered it was The Time Machine by HG Wells. It seemed like it'd seen more love than the other books in the corner, though all of them looked like they had been read at least once judging by the bends she could see in their spines. "But I didn't ask about her name, I asked who she was. She's only _sort_ of a Killjoy, how does that work?"

"She's a prostitute." Death-iNation said flatly after an attempt to choose his words wisely. There was no point in trying to sweeten the truth about the woman. He wasn't _fond_ of her career choice but he knew it was something he couldn't change about her very easily. Besides, Death-iNation had been sure if he had tried to sugar coat Marilyn's career title then Fire Frenzy would have called him out on it. She didn't seem the type to care about being politically correct.

"And why is it that you regularly affiliate with a prostitute?" Frenzy turned to face him, still holding the book in her lap.

"What makes you think I _regularly_ see her? What if she's just a contact I've made while living in the City?" Death-iNation was curious as to how she already knew so much about his living arrangement with Marilyn.

"Well, unless you regularly draw hearts and butterflies in the margins of books while reading and sign her name at the front, then I'm pretty sure this Marilyn Deathrow lives with you a good chunk of the time. Plus, there is a pair of women's panties underneath the bed." Fire Frenzy shrugged simply and nodded to the bed Nation was seated on. Death-iNation leaned down and sure enough saw the evidence of what went on in his bedroom.

"Okay, so maybe I regularly affiliate with her."

"Why is that then? You're a handsome man, surely you could find that sort of companionship reasonably simply without having to _pay_ for someone's services." Death-iNation winced from the way this conversation was going. Clearly this woman didn't care whether or not she embarrassed others with her words. He wondered how she would feel if he turned the tables on her, but he couldn't find any similar ammunition against her so let it be.

"It's not that I was looking to pay for the intimate aspect of things." Death-iNation chose his words wisely. "I was lonely and not in the way you think. I paid her to keep me company and let me talk to her without having to worry that my secrets wouldn't be kept."

"Right, I'm sure that you hired a prostitute to come back to your apartment and _talk_ to you." Frenzy rolled her eyes and got up off of the floor, setting the book down on the pile. "I'm sure that's why she sleeps here and her panties are under the bed. She must have been just so happy to hear you talking about what you do for the Killjoys that she lost her panties in all the excitement." Death-iNation felt his face turning red in embarrassment.

"I don't really think it's any of your business how my sex life plays out." Death-iNation sighed and averted his eyes. _God she has no idea what she's talking about, time to change the subject_.

"You're right, it's not. But you're the one who insists upon making this a guessing game so, I'm playing along. It's not my fault you're uncomfortable with your extracurricular activities. I find that if you're _ashamed_ of something you probably shouldn't be _doing _it." Frenzy started peering through the room, in the closets and the dressers. She found more women's clothing only verifying to her that the woman stayed here far more regularly than Death-iNation had initially admitted.

"Prostitution is _illegal_ in the City and Better Living Industries does despicable things to those they catch doing it. When things start to get hot in the City for Marilyn I let her stay here to keep safe and lay low. I also provide her with a place to stay when things _aren't_ hot in the City okay? Regardless, being a prostitute she's incredibly useful."

"Yes, I gathered that by the job description, thank you very much."

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" Death-iNation continued on his rant now. This woman was making too many assumptions about his personality and he was going to set her straight. He wasn't the type of man to pay for a woman's services and he was not the kind to use them and throw them away and he didn't want to garner a reputation as such either. "She's a prostitute and a lot of important and powerful men come to her in the bars looking to have a good time. You wouldn't believe the information I've gotten from her that she's heard from her clients. Hell, she does a better job getting information about Better Living Industries than I did working for them. If anyone has heard where they've taken that little girl and moved the IOD project to then it's going to be her."

"Wow, defensive aren't you? Believe it or not, I actually _meant_ that she was a wealth of information and not the filthy way you thought I did. Men like to rattle their mouth off before and after sex, so who would know more than a prostitute." Frenzy rolled her eyes and continued to look through the room. "You said your _friends_ could help me. Now, unless I'm mistaken and Marilyn Deathrow has multiple personalities, there is someone else you said you can take me to visit. I want to know exactly what our plan is before we head on our way."

"Yes, my friend Zeppelin Rocket from the zones. He's a pilot and a Killjoy. He's always hitting up the bars and meeting with different women and such. Smart guy, a pretty good guy too. He's always seeing a lot of shit he's not supposed to see and getting away with it so if Marilyn can't help us out, then I suggest we go find Rocky. However, he's a lot harder to find because he's not often in the City anymore now that the curfew has been lowered and security tightened."

"Well, then I suggest we go and look for Marilyn Deathrow soon. I don't know how much your pilot friend will be as help, but this prostitute seems very useful and like she would be far easier to find."

"Was that so hard to admit?" Death-iNation smiled, hoping that the teasing and taunting Fire Frenzy had unintentionally done had finally ceased.

"Had I ever said it was a stupid idea? I was merely verifying facts. It's not my fault if you took it as an insult. You Killjoys are all so damn _touchy_ about your egos." Frenzy rolled her eyes and holstered her gun after double checking that it was properly functioning. It would be unpredictable since she'd dropped it so many times and had only a limited amount of supplies to work with during its repair. Nonetheless, it was the only thing she had besides the flamethrower until she could get her hands on something better so it would have to do.

Flamethrowers weren't exactly discreet so she'd have to leave it in the apartment while they were sneaking about the City. Luckily, Frenzy had always felt it best to fire twice instead of once so it would give her pretty decent odds. Frenzy dusted off her messy clothing the best that she could then looked to Death-iNation expectantly. "Get your gun, come on."

"Be patient, I was getting it." Nation grabbed the gun she had used to attack him earlier that day and made sure it was working properly. "I haven't had to do this kind of thing in a long time, so I might be a bit of a rusty shot."

"Well in that case, I guess you better bring up the rear and just tell me where to go. I may be injured but I'm still a practiced shot."

"Oh, and what makes you think you're better at this than I am?"

"I just have a feeling. And I make guns for a living, it probably means I can handle them better than most of the people in the zones." Frenzy started out the front door of the apartment. Death-iNation followed quickly behind her, bringing up the rear as he had been asked to do. While perfectly capable of taking care of himself he wasn't afraid to admit he was still rusty despite how he had saved her from Destroyer in the parking lot of that theater. Adrenaline had mostly helped him get through that situation and now making a calculated move through the City was going to be much more complex, particularly since there were posters of the two all over the walls of the City and alerts to be wary of them on every television station.

"She frequents a few clubs at night and if we get lucky, we can find her before the Drac police find us." Nation said once they'd exited the building. The bustle of the afternoon in the City had died down and only a few people here and there were scattered, walking along the road and to their final destination for the night. Most were keeping their eyes down, not bothering to observe the people around them. Death-iNation looked pleasant enough at first glance but Fire Frenzy garnered a few more unsavory stares due to the wounds wrapped on her arms and legs and the loud colors of her outfit. The staring made her uncomfortable but she had worse things to be concerned with and it kept her from reacting to any of the onlookers in a violent way as she usually would.

Nation stayed behind, hiding his face the best he could. They could've just donned bandanas and managed to be completely unseen, but those in their own right were a mark of being up to something according to the Better Living dress code. Bandanas had become frowned upon in general within the City and people wearing them, even just as a fashion statement, were to be considered dangerous and were usually detained by Drac police. An hour of walking led them to the central area of the City, filled with restaurants, bars and clubs that were frequented mostly by Dracs.

Over the years the Dracs had built up a reputation as party animals, despite how they were drugged and brain washed, the reputation had only continued to grow. _I never understood why they would drink and screw around the way that they do if they're so drugged up. Perhaps it's so that they don't overload with all the stress the medicine puts on their systems? Partying and drinking doesn't do much harm, at least not to Better Living. If nothing else it gives them a whole new area of marketing for hang over cures._ Nation shook his head and grabbed Frenzy's shoulder, stopping her mid-walk.

She turned defensively, looking as though she was resisting taking a swing at him. Nation nodded to the building they'd stopped in front of and she nodded in return to let him know she understood what he was trying to convey. Together they walked through the front door. Frenzy put her hand on the handle of her gun upon seeing a bouncer at the end of a narrow hallway, staring at them menacingly. The hall was dimly lit in a sad bluish undertone.

_Another method of brainwashing. Blue makes you feel solemn and calm, a lot easier to spend your hard earned money when you're not feeling stressed out. Clever; whoever owns this place is a lot smarter than we expected._ Frenzy continued forward and had expected to have to either bribe the bouncer or have to knock him out but to her surprise, he apparently _recognized_ Death-iNation and nodded his head, opening the door for them.

"Is she in the usual room?" Nation stopped in front of the bouncer and spoke under his breath, but Frenzy could hear them both just fine so she found their whispering pointless. If it had been an attempt to show off it had been a failed one.

"Yes, back room as usual. The door is locked though, she has a client or at least I think I saw her go in with someone." The bouncer gestured toward Fire Frenzy. "She looking for work? She's kind of short compared to the other girls. But she's pretty, so she could work."

"No, no… Trust me, she'd kill your clients if given the chance." Death-iNation patted the bouncer on the arm who was still giving Fire Frenzy the once over. As if to not comprehend she'd just been invited to join the establishment as an "entertainer", Frenzy walked past the bouncer and into the raucously loud club. The hallway had been deceivingly quiet in comparison and now the whispering had seemed even stupider to Frenzy. Nation watched her curiously then thanked the bouncer before following Frenzy into the club. Women, half dressed, some not dressed at all were walking around serving drinks, dancing on stages, dancing in cages, dancing in windows along the walls for the entertainment of the men in the room. This room was filled with _red_ lighting now. _Lust, really fucking clever._

Nation finished talking to the bouncer and found Frenzy standing next to one of the stages watching one of the women doing a provocative dance to some music overhead, using the pole in the center of the stage to her aid. Nation didn't look up at the dancer but watched Frenzy curiously. The woman seemed oddly fascinated by what was hiding within the walls of Battery City.

"I thought these places were illegal. I've seen them in the Zones, but I thought they cracked down in the City." She didn't look away from the dancer.

"They are. But there are a few of them still underground. They move periodically, most of them at least. All of this can be packed up and relocated easily but _this_ one in particular has survived for years in this building on bribes and mostly because the Dracs _love_ watching women they can't have taking their clothing off for money." Nation folded his arms across his chest and leaned his head to the side, speaking out of the corner of his mouth. He was striving _not_ to offend any of them women who worked in this place. Most of them were as vicious as the women out in the zones if crossed.

"So this is what we're fighting for?" Frenzy still didn't bother to look away. Unable to think of a response right away, Nation nodded his head.

"It's not _this_ but the freedom to do it if we wanted to." Nation started away from the stage. "No one should be able to dictate what we can and can't do. I understand laws and rules to keep people decent but _this_? We can't read certain books because they give us certain _ideas_. An idea should _never_ be banned. Without ideas, we're nothing."

Frenzy finally turned away from the stage and followed Nation in his walk to the back of the club since he clearly was uncomfortable watching the woman on stage writhing around. _For someone dating a prostitute watching women taking their clothes off and pleasuring themselves sure shakes him easily. Peculiar._

"I _like_ these places." Frenzy tried to make things less awkward. "I wasn't _judging _them when I said that."

"You were a little bit." Nation turned back and gave her a small smile, though he was pleased with her attempt to make nice.

"No, that's not true. If these women can get _money_ out of these poor saps just by taking their clothes off and doing a stupid little dance, then more power to them. Usually it means they're more confident in themselves than the women who think they're being objectified. And you're right; ideas should _never_ be illegal. Without an idea, we really are nothing."

Nation stopped walking at the last door in the back hall of the club, looking surprised at the way Frenzy reacted.

"I don't know why but I expected you to be one of those feminist types that are entirely against women being objectified in places like that."

"You've known me for a _day,_ I'm pretty sure you know next to _nothing_ about me." Frenzy rolled his eyes. "Which room will she be in? This last one, that's what the bouncer said right?"

"Yeah, that's what he said." Nation tapped at the door but received no response then tried the handle only to find it stuck fast, locked. Whatever was going on inside the room, the occupants within didn't want to be disturbed and chose to ignore them. Stepping back, Nation looked around. "I can go get the key from the owner, he knows I'm a regular here."

Frenzy didn't seem to have the patience for him to do so. She took a step back, grabbed Nation's arm to brace herself then kicked at the door where the handle met the lock. The wood splintered and with a second kick the door fell in, swinging hard on its hinges.

"…or we could just do that. Even if it was a little unnecessary." Nation looked impressed and walked into the room. If he had to pay for the door later he didn't mind. He'd prefer to see Frenzy kicking in doors than people's teeth.

"What the hell is going on?" The pretty young woman with blond hair and blue streaks fading out of the ends covered her bare chest desperately and climbed off of the young handsome man sitting on the couch lining the end of the room. "Nation! What are you doing? I'm working!" The woman who was clearly Marilyn Deathrow looked embarrassed and cheated. _Funny, I've never met a shy prostitute before. _Frenzy contemplated this and opted to watch the scene play out. "You can't just storm in here like this! We've _talked_ about this!"

"I'm not here because of that this time." Nation cleared his throat and then turned to the man who was readjusting his pants and smiled in delight upon realizing just _who_ it was that he'd walked in on Marilyn with.

"Then what are you doing here? And who the hell are you?" Marilyn eyed Fire Frenzy in annoyance. "You owe me a pack of cigarettes, little miss!" Marilyn pulled her clothing properly back on and looked apologetically toward the man on the couch who wasn't paying her much mind anymore since it'd become obvious he wasn't getting what he'd been willing to pay for from the woman in the room.

"Zeppelin Rocket, what are the odds you'd be here with Marilyn?" Death-iNation extended a hand to help the man up from the couch. Fixing his bomber jacket, Zeppelin Rocket straightened himself up and turned his charming gaze back to Marilyn Deathrow, flicking blondish brown hair out of his eyes.

"Sorry, guess we'll have to catch up another time, hmm?" Zeppelin pulled one of the cigarettes from the pack he'd intended to pay Marilyn with and pressed it between his lips. "Anyone got a light?" Marilyn eyed the cigarette bitterly.

Frenzy held up her lighter and flicked the flame to life. Zeppelin Rocket reached to take the lighter from her hands but she pulled it back to let him know he was not putting his hand anywhere near it. Instead, the man leaned forward enough to let the end of the cigarette be licked by the flames of the lighter she held. He likely thought it was a game when really it was Frenzy being possessive over it.

"Thanks, doll." Zeppelin Rocket gave her a cheeky smile then looked back to Death-iNation who was trying to console Marilyn Deathrow on her lost sale. "You said you were looking for me?" Death-iNation seemed grateful for the interruption. Frenzy closed what was left of the door and leaned against it, in hopes they wouldn't be overheard while talking, despite the loud music. Suddenly the loud music made a little more sense.

"Yes, will one of you tell me what the hell is going on here?" Marilyn still seemed angry but it was clear that her frustration was fading, given that the situation seemed serious. She'd noticed the wanted posters of him and this woman over the last few days and now she could see the wounds on Frenzy's arms and legs. In fact, she was surprised the woman was _walking_ and kicking down doors with the state of those bandages.

"This is my new friend…"

"We're not friends."

"This is Fire Frenzy." Nation sighed, looking to Frenzy apprehensively. "She says we're not friends, but I think we are by default, seeing as we're apparently on the run together according to Better Living Industries."

"Does it really matter if we're friends or not? It seems irrelevant." Frenzy rolled her eyes and finished the story for him, running out of patience. "He told me you'd both be able to give me some information I was looking for. We were coming to find Marilyn Deathrow for _my_ benefit, not for his. And if you didn't know what I needed, we were going to look for you, Zeppelin Rocket but since you're _both_ here I might as well ask you both right now." Marilyn and Zeppelin looked to Death-iNation as if to confirm the story.

"What the lady said." Nation shrugged his shoulders and folded his arms, his concentration more on Marilyn than on Zeppelin.

"Alright, what is it you need to know?" Zeppelin Rocket sat back down. "I don't give out important information for free, so we can talk _negotiations_ after you've told me what you want from me."

"I'm going to ask Marilyn first in that case, seeing as I have _nothing_ you want." Frenzy looked back to the woman who now seemed curious and less aggravated with the fact that she'd be interrupted and lost a sale.

"Go ahead. If you make us square for this with a pack of cigarettes, I'll help in whatever way I can. I'm a cheap date."

"I need to know if there's a less obvious way to get into the cleansing center Better Living Industries has set up in that theater on the east side of the City." Frenzy began. "Preferably if there's a way I can do it without alerting the IOD project they're hiding within. There's something I need to get out of there before it's destroyed." She was hoping not to give a lot of information in regards to what she was planning on doing. With the rate they were going, these three idiots were going to ask to help her with it and get themselves killed in the process. _You're responsible for enough deaths already, no need to make the toll higher by dragging them along with you._

"I can't really tell you if the IOD project would be alerted or not by breaking in. Whenever I try to ask about that all the Dracs tend to clam up or change the subject. Though, I've been curious ever since Nation told me about it." Marilyn tapped her fingers against her arm, shifting her weight onto her left foot. "But, there's an abandoned sewer system below it the building you could likely use to access it without being caught. I think they're currently using it to drain off the toxic waste from the experiments into the manmade lake in the first zone." There was disdain in her voice when talking about it. "But who knows what kind of illness you could get from walking through that muck? It hardly seems worth it. Whatever you lost, you should just let it go."

"Okay so we'd have to get out of the City to get back into the experiment center." Frenzy nodded her head, grateful for the woman's advice but chose to ignore her last suggestion. Giving up was never an option.

"No, you could find a sewer grate in the City and crawl through there instead. It'd be easier than going through the gates to get out of the City. They all interconnect so it's just a matter of navigating them without getting lost. It's a fucking maze down there it's nearly impossible to find your way back after you've been down there for an hour."

"Not to mention all the homeless people that are living down there now. It's like a City of its own right down there. I meet people sneaking food down there all the time. I've been trying to help them with it actually." Marilyn chimed in. "I can navigate a little bit of it and probably get us some help to get to where we need to be."

"Wait, wait. That old movie theater on the east end? That's what you're talking about right? That place Better Living claims is giving out free stuff to the kids on the street?" Zeppelin interjected, removing his cigarette from his lips. "No way, you're not getting in there. Not anymore at least. It'd be impossible."

"What do you mean, I _have_ to get in there. There are no other options." Fire Frenzy responded flatly.

"I did an air show in the first zone early this morning for some organization out there that hired me. Flying above, I could see the damn thing was decimated. Plus it's all over the newspapers… Someone blew it up. Terrorist act by someone acting for the Killjoys, or so that's the story everyone's been telling. You know Better Living, when something blows up it _must _be the Killjoys."

"Oh wait! That's right! I didn't realize that was the same theater you were talking about…" Marilyn snapped her fingers in realization and then hurried to the couch, pushing Zeppelin Rocket out of her way. Reaching between the cushions she pulled a newspaper out from between them and began to flip through the pages. Nation and Frenzy exchanged glances and watched her browse through the papers before suddenly turning to swat Zeppelin Rocket's hand away from her back side. "No freebies!" She got back up from the couch, folded the pages over and held up the story nearly halfway through the paper.

Sure enough the headline let them know about the terrorist bombing at the movie theater that had been set up as a charity to the children of the neighborhood. Beneath the headline was a picture of the collapsed theater and next to that was an artist's portrayal of the perpetrator who'd blown the building.

"I knew I recognized you right away. This is why I did." Marilyn pointed to the drawing of Fire Frenzy in the paper. "They're saying you blew up the theater."

"Which I'm guessing is a lie since you were trying to break _into_ it. Why would they lie about that?" Zeppelin Rocket added afterward.

"Why would they lie about anything?" Nation grimaced. "They're adding fuel to the fire in anticipation of finding her so that when they kill her they can brag about another successful attempt to keep the City safe. It's all another ploy to convince the people in the City that what they're doing is actually _working_. They're hoping that these people never catch wise to their games." Frenzy didn't seem phased that she'd been blamed for the explosion along with the deaths of multiple people inside of it. She was more upset that she no longer had any leads to where she could find where Instigator had taken Grace.

"Then where the hell did they move all those kids in the theater? Where did they take Grace after she helped me? They wouldn't blow up their precious IOD project, I'm guessing so they've probably moved them already." Frenzy paced back and forth and then opened the nearly ruined door. "I'm going right to the source."

"Oh no, you're not going out there on your own." Marilyn started after her. "Nation, tell her she can't go on her own. She'll get killed! The Dracs are out there full force, stopping almost everyone in search of the two of you! They won't want to _listen_ to her story, they'll kill her!"

"She's right, Frenzy, you can't just walk around the City kicking in doors hoping to find what you're looking for. It doesn't work like that." Nation grabbed the woman's arm to stop her from leaving, much to her distaste.

"You'd much rather me just hide in your shitty little apartment and wait for them to find us? I'm not a _coward_, I'm going out there and I'm going to find Grace and I'm going to kick the shit out of that asshole who did this to me, got it?" Frenzy hissed in frustration, eager for her revenge.

"They're right. You can't go by yourself. They're looking for you and they'll find you." Zeppelin Rocket put out his cigarette beneath his shoe and stood up straight. "I haven't seen someone last more than forty-eight hours in the City after they put up the exterminate posters. We'll go with you."

"You're far too high a price to be worth the company you'll give me." Frenzy forcefully pulled her arm away from Nation's grip, tired of being pulled around simply because she was smaller.

"We'll go with you Frenzy, okay? I'm not going to let you walk out there and get yourself killed. Besides, you're still hurt and while I'm sure those painkillers are muting the pain a lot for you, there are some things you will continue to be physically incapable of doing until you've properly healed." Nation tried to reason with her.

"And I'll work for free, just this once. Call me curious." Zeppelin Rocket nodded his head and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I know my way through this City better than anyone. We'll go together." Marilyn Deathrow smiled, feeling oddly cheery about this new adventure, despite knowing the dangers it would pose. Frenzy folded her arms over her chest, looking defeated. _Unfortunately, they have a point. If you die before you save that girl and destroy Better Living Industries then what purpose will you have served? Other than destroying the lives of so many children and the people who are offering to help?_

"Fine. If you get in my way for even a minute though, I'm ditching you. It's far harder to sneak around as four people than it is as one."

"Well two of us are wanted."

"Three of us." Marilyn smiled, waving her hand playfully. "I'm always wanted in this City. Prostitution is highly frowned upon, you know."

"Four of us… I might have caused some trouble a few weeks ago in a bar and killed a few Dracs who were practically asking for it." Zeppelin Rocket chuckled, adding in his two cents.

"Oh great, another group of Killjoys who can't keep their shit together…" Frenzy rolled her eyes and opened the door. "I'm utterly shocked. Now can we please go?"

"I'll lead the way, just cover me. I know I _have_ a gun but I don't really _use_ it very often. The most I do with it is threaten, honestly." Marilyn started out the door, leading the rest of the group through the loud club and out through the front door, past the bouncer. Not knowing where they were going or how they were going to find what Fire Frenzy was seeking was part of the thrill.

* * *

><p>Party Poison couldn't focus on anything important and he knew he <em>needed <em>to focus on something other than the things that had happened in the last four days. _Come on, come on think. Think about something other than Kobra Kid being a fucking traitor and selling out our entire organization and perhaps having been tortured into doing so. Think about something other than Fire Frenzy out there being tortured by Better Living Industries thanks to Kobra. Think about something other than Disco Bitch being dead in the desert somewhere after losing her mind. Fuck! This isn't working!_

Throwing his hands up in frustration, he continued these thoughts for another twenty minutes. All he wanted to do was break shit and make a mess but he knew it wouldn't accomplish anything except for bloodying his knuckles and making an ass of himself. Poison paced in the alley next to his house but stopped dead as he saw the shadow on the wall of someone watching him.

Turning around he saw an older Killjoy, probably in his mid fifties, simply standing there watching him agonize over his thoughts. He looked the type that spent most of their time telling ridiculous stories in the bar in the back of the camp. After a few moments of scrutinizing, Poison had decided he'd seen him around before this. Poison had always kept his doors open to the older generation of Killjoys, seeing as they had done so much good before losing their marbles. In fact, he and Kobra had been trained by someone just like the guy watching him, before having made their way through the ranks.

"Can I have a word with you, Party Poison?"

"Go talk to Jet-Star about whatever it is. I don't have the energy for anything right now." Poison dismissed him and started pacing again. _My head is a mess and if he's wants some attention then Jet-Star can find someone to pity him. I don't have it in me today. I'm not sure I'll ever have it in me again._

"I've seen that girl walking around here. The one you were yelling about in the infirmary." The man seemed determined to talk to Poison and he'd struck the right nerve to get to do so.

"What? What girl are you talking about?" Poison's interest was definitely peeked. If he'd seen Disco Bitch or Fire Frenzy it could be some kind of help for his nerves. Apparently the hope in his eyes had been apparent because the man continued quickly on his tangent.

"I mean before all of this, a few days ago. I remember seeing that girl with the red stripy hair and thinking she seemed familiar. I had thought about talking to her about something, but then I forgot what I had wanted to say. I forget a lot like that these days." The man with the graying hair and bandana tied around his head, covered with a baseball cap approached. "I'm Aghast Perish. You probably don't remember me, but I remember you. I watched you grow up here." He extended his hand to shake but Party Poison merely stared at it.

"We _all_ saw her a few days ago, that doesn't help me. Why would you come and tell me that?"

"I was in the infirmary getting my weekly check up with Jet-Star. I'm sick you see, so I come in every week… I was there when Kobra Kid went and told you he was the leak and letting the Dracs in. I tell ya, you were really seeing red. Don't think I've ever seen you that angry actually." Perish pointed to him with a small smile. "But I didn't remember who that lady was not until you said her _name _to Kobra Kid then something clicked and I figured you ought to know about it."

"Fine, then tell me before I change my mind." Poison was losing his patience for this man, despite his attempt to try and be helpful. Usually he would entertain the man and even comfort him, get him some food or something similar but all Poison wanted to do was keep pacing and sorting out his thoughts.

"See, I could tell that you must actually _care_ about that girl to bring her up like that well… when not a word had been said about her before that. She left a few days ago, I remember seeing her walking out of those front gates." Aghast continued. "I figured if you were going after your brother like that, you must be worrying that she's gone and got herself into some similar troubles cause of him."

"Look get to the point, I don't need a recap from you." Poison's lip curled in annoyance as the man pointed out the feelings he apparently_ obviously _had according to the people around him. _Everyone's telling me how I feel, so how the hell am I supposed to know what's real and what everyone is planting into my head?_ That was just an excuse, Poison knew very well how he felt he just hated admitting it.

"When I was younger, about fifteen years back, when we were still allowed in the City without being pulled in for questioning immediately the way we are now… You know before Better Living had us all declared terrorists and tried to tolerate our objections to the way they ran things… God those days were a lot easier than things are now, weren't they?"

"Focus, Perish. Get to the point." Poison was intrigued by what the man had to say now about Fire Frenzy but at the same time couldn't handle the way this conversation seemed to stem off topic so damn often. _I wonder why he sees Jet-Star every week, maybe there's a medical reason for this bullshit erratic conversation._

"Sorry, I know I tend to ramble on when I reminisce. I forget little details until they're popping out of my mouth." Perish took a deep breath, looking exhausted. "But regardless of that, me and a group of six or seven other Killjoys, we'd go into the City and bring food to the orphans running around there. We'd play games for a few hours while the sun was still out and try to recruit as many of them as we could to come back to camp. That was back when there was only one of them. A lot of them were older actually, they don't make it to that age anymore it seems. There was one quiet little girl amongst them, I distinctly remember because she had the _brightest_ damn blue eyes I've _ever_ seen in my life. Still to this day, I don't forget her face. I'd become partial to her for a little while. I know it's pretty weird since I'm so much older but it wasn't like that. I'd tried to convince her to come back to camp with me so I could _father_ her not anything unsavory like some people thought."

"I get it, you're not a pedophile." Poison sighed heavily. He was coming to terms with the fact that he'd have to keep this man on topic if he hoped to get anything out of him that would be useful.

"Yeah, but I caught her trying to sneak into one of the big shipping buildings that Better Living used to have set up before they built those big concrete walls around the City. She said she was trying to get supplies and blankets for the other kids because it was cold in the City at night and they were getting sick. She said two had already died and she couldn't watch any more of them freeze to death." Perish looked lost in thought, remembering the little girl he'd met so long ago. "When I found her, she was being bullied by a group of Dracs and she was _terrified_ even if she wouldn't admit it. Me and my friends saved her, put those Dracs in their place for tormenting her in such a vile way. You know the way we used to do it before you started up on the whole _no killing_ shit. Really, some of them just deserve it Poison, you should reconsider."

"Yeah, and we all deserve to be experimented on and used as lab rats. If _that_ logic works then we're as good as Better Living Industries." Poison had argued with people so much about this rule of his that he knew exactly what to say to get the subject to pass. "So you saved what you're thinking is my friend who ran out of here the other day? Is that what you're saying? Why does this matter? She was an orphan, a lot of the Killjoys were. I don't see how this _helps_ me." _It does make me miss her though._

"Let me finish my story and then _maybe_ you'll understand why I'm saying this." Perish leaned against the wall, looking winded and tired.

"Look, why don't you come inside and sit down while we talk? I can get you a glass of water, you look fucking exhausted just from _talking_ to me. I'd hate to have you pass out before you get to the point of this story." Poison started to the front of his house and held open the door for Perish. Watching the old man lumber into his house slowly was agonizing but Poison did little else than sigh in frustration. If the man was going to give him some useful information then it was worth the wait. After he was inside Poison closed the door and got him a glass of water from the faucet in his bathroom. Both men sat down at the table in the main room.

"Thank you, I needed that. This heat gets to me now in my old age." Perish finished his glass of water quickly, apparently grateful for it.

"You can't be that old, why are you so damn sick?"

"Radiation." The man half smiled, knowing that it implied what else he had. "We didn't know what we know now about the old cures. We used to self inject to try to avoid Better Living's brainwashing back when they had those big screens on every street. Found out later the shit was toxic and now half of us have cancer while the other half are out of their minds. It's a damn shame really. Jet-Star keeps me comfortable though."

"At least you've got your mind?" Poison averted his eyes. _Another distraction. We'll all die young out here, who knows if we'll have much more of a life._

"Yeah, that's a good way to look at it." Perish smirked and then looked at had once been his glass of water. "But I was telling you about the little blue eyed girl I knew. After we got her out of there, she wasn't even _shaken_ up. I'd sworn she was terrified when it was all happening but something had changed about her. She told us that a lot worse happened to them while they were out on the streets and the Dracs would've been too chicken to kill her anyway. For someone who had nearly gotten killed she sure had some balls on her."

"Well, that sounds about right."

"I gave her my lighter and some blankets and I told her to keep warm and out of trouble." Perish nodded his head. "I didn't expect to ever see her again, honestly I expected her to get herself killed being as reckless as she was. The other orphans had learned to avoid Better Living Industries so for her to run in there headlong like that, it was like she _wanted_ to get caught. I never understood it"

"Okay…" Poison wondered if the lighter Fire Frenzy carried now was the same lighter this man had given to her so long ago. He could picture her in his mind, a little girl, hiding in an alleyway and just staring, fixated on the lighter to drown out the disturbing sounds that filled the City in the night after curfew had passed.

"About a week later, I was with that same group of guys in the first zone when some Dracs ambushed us. Someone had let them know we were going back into the City to see the kids. I guess they'd wanted revenge for the Dracs I'd killed when I'd helped out little blue eyes. They tied me and my buddies up and started to interrogate them. Eventually my friends cracked and told them everything they knew. It was awful watching them like that…" Perish seemed lost in his mind for a few moments and Poison let him take his break. Remembering fallen comrades was something he couldn't blame him for. He'd often found himself staring and recounting the many he'd seen lying in the dirt, bloody and beaten.

"But I refused to crack, not for anything. I watched them slaughter every one of my friends right in front of me. They were going to kill me next when that little girl came out of _nowhere_. The Dracs hadn't expected her to come either and before I'd even realized what she'd done she'd managed to cover them all in some kind of accelerant, smelled like gasoline at the time, and set them all on fire. She _watched_ them burn to death before she came over to free me." Poison watched the man wide eyed. That was a twist in his story he hadn't expected, even if it hadn't come as much of a surprise.

"She _watched_ them fry?"

"Yeah, with this weird… high look in her eyes. I almost asked her if she was on something but I'd been so shaken I could only think of getting the hell out of there. She'd refused to tell me her name back then so I dubbed her Fire Frenzy that night, as her Killjoy name and asked her finally to come and join us. I told her that they'd be hunting her now that she'd murdered the Dracs."

"She turned you down? Even after all of that?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Well, she's _not_ a Killjoy so… I could only assume."

"I begged her to come with me and be safe at least but she told me that the only reason she lived was to kill _them_ and not to play our game. I didn't know what she meant back then but as I got older I realized how much like a game of chess this has become. Better Living does something, we react until they come out with something bigger and we retaliate. She was _right_. We'll never win like this."

"What happened? Did she go back to the City?" Poison asked curiously, well aware of the situation with the Dracs and how he'd spent years trying to break the cycle.

"She disappeared after making sure I could get out of there on my own. I never saw her again even though I came looking for her every week. I knew she would stay in the City and other kids told stories about her, but I never actually _saw_ her again until I saw her walking around the other day. It didn't click that she was that same little blue eyed girl until I heard you say her name the other day. What are the chances that I'd remember those pretty eyes when I saw her and then hear that name from you in the infirmary in the same week? I'd say odds are, we've got the same girl." Perish got up from the table. "I know this is a lot to take in, so I'm going to leave you to your thoughts."

He slowly meandered away from the table. Perhaps he'd left in such a hurry because he'd seen the realization hit Poison before he himself had realized it. Poison stayed seated and tapped his fingers against the table, waiting for the sound of the door closing behind him before he started _really_ thinking about what he'd just learned.

The papers he couldn't find in the secret place he'd kept them. He couldn't stop thinking about them very suddenly. Frenzy must have taken them, of course she would. They had been rearranged when he'd gone looking for them and the secret drawer he kept them in hadn't quite been put away properly. When he'd first found it messed up a few days prior he'd thought that maybe he'd put it like that in his haste to double check the flyer but when he'd found the flyer gone he'd become suspicious that someone had tampered with what was in his drawer.

Now he _knew_ that Frenzy had taken things from his drawer and _knew_ what she was going to do. The thought had vaguely crossed his mind the day that she'd left but he'd pushed it out of his thoughts and occupied himself with Killjoy business.

"She's going to get herself killed." Poison exhaled, the realization flooding through him like a cold shower. "She's going to run into the City and set the place ablaze and let the damn fire take her with it. She's on a fucking suicide mission. I _knew_ she was going to end up getting herself killed after finding all of that shit in her bunker, but I didn't think she'd go through with it." _And why not? Because she met you and found something worth living for? Way to think so damn highly of yourself asshole. _

"Fuck." Poison stood up and paced again. _I can't do anything about it. If she wants to do it, then I can't stop her. Besides, who am I to stop her anyway? If this is what she wants then maybe I should let her be happy. But how could she think this would make her happy or fix anything? Clearly she's never known anything else so maybe she's not fit to make the decision._

"But who am I to say she's not?"

_It's not like I can do a whole hell of a lot about it right? I've got to stay here and lead this damn army. But isn't it my obligation to help out Killjoys in need?_

"She's not a Killjoy, she doesn't want my help anyway. She was constantly reminding me that she didn't need me."

_Yeah, but she helped us so damn much when she didn't have to do anything. I know she doesn't deserve to die and I don't know how she got it into her head that she does but if I could just find her and set her straight, maybe things could be different._

"I can't just leave things behind here when we're at such a crucial point. I've got to find out where Disco Bitch is and I've got to find out what the hell is going on with that IOD project, I've got to find Death-iNation, Vengeful Venom and fuck… There's so much to do, so much to fix and all I can think about is this stupid fucking stubborn _girl_ who is just out to get us all killed."

_If I can't stop thinking about her, then maybe I'm not fit to do this anymore anyway. At least not until I can get her out of my head._ Poison froze at that thought and gripped at the back of the chair he had been sitting in. If he could just get this out of his head he could get back to work. He used to have ways to get things out of his head but he'd sworn them all off years ago. It'd been ages since he'd had any sort of urge to abuse his body in such a way.

_So what is it Poison? Are you going to lead the Killjoys to potential victory, or are you going to follow your heart, which is apparently a big fucking masochist. You can't have the best of both._

Poison hung his head in thought, realizing the answer was far easier than he had expected it to be.


	29. Just a Ghost

Venom jerked suddenly from unconsciousness, ready to face Korse right away in the parking lot only to be met with darkness at every angle. Freezing in place he blinked his eyes several times in an attempt to adjust to the pitch room, hoping shadows would make their way to him and give him some sense of where he was being held captive but no visions came to him; the world simply stayed black. Whatever room he was being held in was completely void of light; there was nothing to cast any shadows, not even a blinking light from a machine or a light from underneath the seam of a door. For all Venom knew Better Living Industries had struck him blind while he was out of it. Though, for some reason, he was sure he wasn't blind and his eyes were working just fine outside of his vision being partially blurred because of the blow he'd taken to the head when Korse had knocked him unconscious outside of the theater.

In an attempt to move, Venom found that he was bound to what he could assume was some kind of chair and immediately ceased his struggle. The only benefit to having once been in captivity prior to this was he had learned the best way to deal with it and the key to a chance at escape. Struggling when he had no idea what he was up against was perhaps the stupidest thing he could do, given the situation. All it would accomplish was wasting the very little energy he had after all he'd been through. Venom coughed as he tried to speak, finding something solid in his mouth, realizing it was tied around his face and secured behind his head. He couldn't move or scream and they were trying to shock his senses with the darkness of the room.

Sensory deprivation had always been Vengeful Venom's least favorite method of torture, though he couldn't think of one he was _fond_ of either. He could handle the pain of being beaten and the shock of being dunked in cold water. Hell, he could even handle those damn brainwashing videos as horrifying as they were, but putting him in a room with no light, where he could never hope to develop a mental image of the room around him or in a room where white noise was playing at full blast and he was done for. It was too much for him to handle and made him want to curl up into fetal position and slip into the confines of his mind. Everyone had their breaking point and somehow, Korse knew just what his was.

_I can't let that happen this time. I've got to try and find out where I am at the very least. I must still be in the City, these old buildings all smell the same. If I can just close my eyes and concentrate on the chair I'm strapped to then maybe I could get an image in my mind and go from there._ All he needed was to get out of the chair, then he could crawl along whatever floor was beneath him and find his way out of the room that had become his dark prison then escape from whatever Better Living Industries building this was. It was very rare for torture and imprisonment to happen anywhere else. _There, see? Simple._

A sarcastic sound of disapproval escaped from behind the gag in his mouth. _Right, getting that to happen will be incredibly easy. I'm sure this chair is reinforced to the ground in some way at the very least. Not to mention whatever bonds I've got on my wrists._ Venom leaned his head to the side as far as he could reach until he felt the back of his head brushing the end of the hard chair. Then he did the same with the other side to get a good judge of how wide it was. So far, so good. If he could just keep this up with nearly every aspect of the chair he'd at least have made progress. Better Living Industries was not going to get the best of him this time around. He had let them experiment on him for months the first time but he'd either escape in the next week or die in the process. They weren't going to use his body to do anymore damage.

"What do you think you are doing, Vengeful Venom?" Venom froze in terror at the sound that came so suddenly out of the silence that he felt nearly deafened by it. Korse was talking to him from somewhere within the room. Turning his head frantically left and right was only instinct to try and locate the voice addressing him. Frustration was the only sound he could muster. "Trying to escape already are we? You just got here, why not stay for awhile."

Venom released an annoyed grunt and continued to feel around the chair. It was all he could do to keep his sanity. For all he knew, Korse was speaking through something electronic just to fuck with him and wasn't in the room at all. He couldn't respond vocally if he had wanted to anyway, seeing as he was still gagged. Besides, the only words Venom had for Korse were "fuck" and "you".

"I'm sure you're wondering where you are. You must have _some_ idea at least." Korse continued on. The voice seemingly moved all around him and Venom became aware of the sounds of footfalls on the ground to his left. Korse _was_ in the room, pacing around his chair in a circle as if to observe him. _The chair must be pretty damn small, a standard metallic seat bolted to the ground if I could guess. Korse doesn't realize it but he actually helped me figure that out by walking around me. It's one last thing for me to have to guess about._ If Venom's mouth hadn't been so stretched by the gag he would've smiled triumphantly. Even succeeding at a small goal in this situation was gratifying. During his captivity within Better Living Industries laboratories the first time, he'd learned how precious hope was and how very hard it was to cling to, so every tiny little thing he did had to count as a success.

"In a few moments I will remove your gag and allow you to speak. But before I do I'm going to tell you a few things and ask you a few questions." Korse continued talking as he paced. His voice circling around the room was making Vengeful Venom dizzy. Closing his eyes didn't help and concentrating on the sound of his voice didn't help either so Venom chose to deal with it and continue in his examination of the chair, hoping that a distraction would keep him from becoming nauseated. Now that he knew what shape it was, finding a way out of the bonds on either one of his wrists would be his next goal. If he could get one of them freed then he could get the others, his legs, and then the gag around his face.

"I'm going to ask you a series of questions and if you can manage to answer _any_ of them then perhaps I shall consider giving you some light for the duration of your stay. If not, the punishment will be dire and your light will be turned off permanently. You have a history with us, or so your record tells me as much." Korse continued speaking and Venom froze in confusion, glancing in the direction the voice had come from, to his left.

_He doesn't remember me? Really? But he tortured me for months, ran experiments on me! Hell, I worked for him for a year and he doesn't remember me at all? He had to look up files on me and the history I have with Better Living Industries? What the hell is wrong with him?_ The thought plagued Venom. He hadn't been that efficient in erasing his history when he'd left, not enough to screw with Korse's mind at least. For a fleeting moment he felt _pity_ for the man who held himself so proudly as Better Living Industries' top man. _He must have no memory past a certain point or a very flawed one. Maybe his memory doesn't work unless it's programmed to._ Venom couldn't help but compare Korse's mind to a faulty floppy disk. At least, that's what he suspected was going on, that the disk would every so often need to be reformatted when the information within became corrupted. Apparently the rumors about the reanimated man were true. There was very little humanity left to him.

"You were one of us once and you broke free of our organization. You will _not_ again, I assure you that." Venom grunted in response again, simply to be defiant. He knew responding with these caveman-like sounds would grant him no favors but he couldn't sit and listen to what Korse had to say without having his defiance known. Cold hands were on his wrists and rotten breath close to his nose which made it clear that the noise had gotten his point across. Venom closed his eyes and pictured Korse leaning over his chair, his hands on the arms of it, covering his bound wrists and his face close to his with that sick smirk on it even if the hollow eyes didn't match his expression. He could even picture the scar that ran across it clearly. The stress on his mind from the sensory deprivation torture was easing.

"Where _is_ Party Poison? Surely, he led you to that theater where we found you snooping. You weren't the first one to find it. We know about the little _rat_ he planted in our network to spy on us." Korse hissed threateningly. _What? Party Poison? Why the hell would he care where he is when the Killjoys could be planning some kind of a counterstrike out in the desert? Surely, Poison would be behind such an attack, but killing him wouldn't do anything but agitate the Killjoys into further rebellion. They weren't the kind of organization that would be taken down if their leaders were killed. The Killjoys fought for something not for someone._

"You cannot hide him from me, I will have him and I will tear him limb from limb and then hang him on the walls of the City in pieces for all you pathetic Killjoys to see as an example of just what happens when you meddle with Better Living Industries! He has been a thorn in our side of _many_ years." Korse was as livid as Vengeful Venom had ever heard him. He had some kind of sick and unhealthy obsession with Party Poison, it seemed.

"Better yet, I'll bring him here… He'll _join_ the Scarecrow Unit… He'd _hate_ every second of that, the defiant little prick. Spending his whole life dedicated to a cause only to serve that cause in death until his body decays and withers into nothing." If Venom thought hard enough he was sure he could picture the manic look on Korse's face. _I really hope that Party Poison gets to kill this son of a bitch someday. If anyone deserves to, it's him. _The breath and the hands disappeared and Venom envisioned Korse standing up, folding his arms over his chest and looking down at him with a judgmental stare. _Can he see me properly? He must be able to somehow. Maybe I have gone blind or maybe he can see in the dark. Either is possible, you never know with Better Living Industries. Some of the advancements they made actually are astounding. _

"How did the Killjoys discover the secrets to my plan? How did they find out we had men placed amongst them? And _what_ has happened to those men as a result of such?" Korse continued on with the questions that Venom had no hope of answering with the gag in his mouth. He guessed that at some point it would be removed and he would be allowed to answer as Korse had instructed. Even if he _could_ give some sort of a response he wouldn't. Finally, the Killjoys had trusted him enough to let him within their organization to help their cause and he wasn't going to betray them now just because he'd found himself in a precarious situation.

Feeling a kinship to his brothers in the zones, Vengeful Venom hung his head and envisioned how grateful and kind they were to him during the few days he spent in the camp as one of them. Agent Alpaca had treated him like one of his own men and he'd forever be grateful for that kindness. Party Poison had listened to his story and believed every word without proof. It was everything he had ever wanted and he vowed to get back to them and prove that he once and for all deserved the trust they had put in him.

"How did you find out about our IOD project? Was it the rat you had set up in Scarecrow Unit? How much do the Killjoys _know_ about IOD and Widow? I _need_ to know what they know." Korse continued asking his questions. The answers to these questions didn't seem important to Venom but he was sure that they were important to Korse. Besides, he knew that Korse wouldn't ask the important questions right at the beginning of his torture. He wanted something from Venom but they wouldn't get to what it was until far later. That was how Better Living Industries worked. They clearly wanted Vengeful Venom thinking about the things he'd mentioned so that when they decided to _take_ the information from him against his will later on, it would be fresh within his mind.

The thought was enough to make Venom sick to his stomach but he resisted the urge to vomit, which he decided would be catastrophic given the fact that there was a gag within his mouth and he'd most likely choke to death on it. Light flooded the room, blinding and painful to Venom's eyes that had adjusted to being in the darkness. Purple and yellow spots appeared in Venom's vision and he closed his eyes instinctually to avoid the pain but even the brightness that shone through his lids seemed painful.

"Open your eyes you pathetic vermin." Korse grabbed Vengeful Venom's chin and pulled his head to be tilted up. "Open them and look at me!" Venom hesitated but after a moment opened his eyes. The room was blurred and everything seemed far too bright, giving him a headache, but he could see Korse's face, twisted with anger and frustration very clearly. "Good boy."

Venom hadn't cooperated with Korse out of fear but only because he knew if he hadn't then Korse would've pried his eyes open with something and causing unnecessary pain seemed stupid when he was hoping to be strong enough to escape after Korse was finished with him. The pain began to subside as his eyes adjusted to the harsh light within the room, though they felt dry and enflamed from the sudden change.

"I will give you a chance to answer my questions now. I suggest you consider giving me some information or the lights will go back off and for you they will _never_ come back on. We have our ways of making sure of it." Venom inwardly panicked at the idea of being thrust back into darkness but scanned his eyes around the room the best he could with his jaw so tight within Korse's grip. If the lights were going to go back out he wanted to be able to see the room properly in his mind's eye so that when he was alone again he would be able to find his way around and hopefully still manage escape.

The gag ripped away from his jaw and his mouth was pained from being stuck in that open position for so long. Korse stepped away from Venom, holding the gag in his hand still and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting expectantly for an answer to the questions he'd been asking for the last half an hour. Venom opened and closed his jaw several times, adjusting to using it properly again. Not having noticed how tight the gag had been when it was on, it had left him sore and aching now that it had been removed.

"I'm waiting." Korse said impatiently, tapping his right foot on the floor in a slow rhythm. The sound seemed magnified to Venom's pounding head and for a moment he stared at the shoe on the floor. He chose his words carefully and leaned as far forward on his chair as he could manage with the bonds around his wrists and ankles.

"The Killjoys…" Venom started, his voice feeling hoarse, his throat sore and dry from the way that it had been hanging open for so long with the gag. Clearing his throat, he continued onward. Korse stopped tapping his foot and looked at Venom curiously, very obviously thinking the man was going to tell him something important. "The Killjoys killed you once and they'll kill you again… you and the rest of your goddamn organization." Venom laughed and cleared his throat one more time before spitting what he'd managed to collect within his mouth at Korse's face.

Korse's calm mask broke again and his lips curled in a scowl, the leather of his gloves squeaked as he clenched his fists. Leaning forward and gripping onto the arms of the chair, Korse hissed threateningly at Venom.

"The Dracs are _mobilizing_. In the next three days all your precious _Killjoys_ will be dead or captured. Every single one of them will fall because they will have no idea what the hell is happening until it's already happened." Korse collected himself and stood straight again. He glanced to the corner of the room where Venom assumed there was some kind of a camera but when he turned his head he saw nothing was there. _What is he looking at? He didn't attack me when I spat at him. That's not a good sign for me._

The door behind Korse opened silently and inside stepped the three creatures that Vengeful Venom had so been looking forward to meeting again. Instigator, Obliterator, and Destroyer walked into the room, standing around Korse and observing the man in the chair in front of them. Destroyer was breathing heavily, apparently irritated before he'd even entered the room._ Perhaps they've been listening and already know exactly how I responded. Perhaps they are my punishment for being so rebellious._

"You don't seem frightened." Korse said after a moment, addressing the project surrounding him. "You should be. This is Instigator, Destroyer and Obliterator. I'm going to leave you to _them_ unless you decide to give me some answers and quickly."

"We've already met. It's been a long time, but I still remember." Vengeful Venom whispered, remembering how different they looked when they were still children, trapped in glass tubes and attached to wires, looking dead and calm, almost helpless. The eerie hollow gaze was still written all over their faces, minus Destroyer who was making erratic sounds underneath his breath and fidgeting in place, bearing fangs on occasion. Instigator was throwing him dangerous looks, as if threatening him not to take any action. Destroyer twitched his head to the side then back upright. _He looks like he's malfunctioning. That Drac had told me that they were faulty. Maybe they're on their way out._

"Oh, do you?" Instigator addressed in her hollow sounding voice. "Well, we don't know you. Other than what we've read from your file, that is. You _escaped_ from here, did you? Clever little beast, it seems a shame to let my brothers to him, Korse. Are you sure we can't find some better use for him." The girl looked to Korse who didn't respond to her. Frustration and irritation flashed through her calm demeanor then her face returned to the stone expression she'd carried when she'd walked into the room. _They're all out of their minds, I can tell._

Destroyer didn't seem to be able to contain himself any longer and he lunged at Venom who yelled in response and surprise. Flying at him and knocking the chair all the way against the wall, Destroyer grabbed onto the arms of the chair and pinned Venom in place. Venom's eyes widened as he looked at the remainder of the bolts that had once held the chair into the floor before Destroyer had thrown himself at it.

"Tell me where she is! Tell me! Tell me!" Destroyer repeated, twitching, foaming at the mouth, sounding much like a record skipping. The way he was talking wasn't normal, there was something severely wrong inside of his mind.

"Fuck! Tell you where _who_ is?" Venom inwardly panicked and wondered if Better Living Industries had any idea that Rainbow Riot had been with him at some point. _But why would they want her? She flies under the radar for the most part. That can't be who this guy is talking about. They couldn't possibly want her, unless they know our secret._

"Don't play dumb with me! Tell me where she is!" Destroyer grabbed at Venom's suit jacket and lifted him high off of the ground, chair and all, with ease. He shoved him hard against the wall. "Tell me where that fucking stripy haired bitch is _right_ now! She's one of you and you will _tell_ me where she is or I will kill you where you stand! No one gets away from me, _no one_." Destroyer hissed.

"I have no idea who the fuck he is talking about!" Venom braced himself as Destroyer seemed like he was ready to throw him across the room. Pleading with the others seemed the easier route to go since he couldn't make sense of any of Destroyer's ramblings. _If only I could protect my fucking head. He's going to throw me and my head is going to crack all over the damn floor like an egg._

Much to his surprise all that happened was his chair clattered to the ground and he fell on his side. Destroyer had dropped him and Vengeful Venom opened his eyes to see what had happened. Obliterator had pulled apart the cane he'd been carrying with him; the one Venom had noticed had a snake head topper. The blade hidden within the cane was pressed to his brother's throat. Instigator and Korse didn't seem at all surprised by what had happened and were still watching Venom himself, meanwhile Vengeful Venom watched in shock at the exchange between the two brothers. _What the fuck just happened? I must be missing something since I'm the only one who seems surprised._

"Calm down, Destroyer." Obliterator whispered calmly to his brother who still looked manic and angry. Destroyer glared at Obliterator and whispered pleadingly to him.

"I need to know where she is, I need to know. You _know_ that I need to know. She fooled you too brother, escaped you and you need to know as badly as I do, I can tell. He could tell us where she is!" Destroyer pled and hoped his brother would appeal to logic, even if it was flawed logic.

Venom's head suddenly ached out of nowhere. It felt like worms were crawling in his ears, pressing on his brain, touching every one of his senses. He coughed and gagged, wanting to grip his head and pull at it. He wanted to dig in his ear and get whatever was inside of his head now out of it. _What new kind of torture is this? Oh God!_

"Ah! It's digging in my brain! Stop it! Stop!" Venom cried in misery, twisting his head from side to side and resorting to smacking it against the floor in an attempt to get the pain to stop. Much to his surprise it _did_ stop when he hit it, other than the dull pounding the action had created. Instigator stumbled backward in front of him as though she'd taken a blow herself. Korse steadied the woman without looking away from Vengeful Venom on the floor. _What the hell just happened? What did she do? Did I hurt her when I hit my head?_

"He doesn't have _any_ idea what you're talking about Destroyer. You are wasting your time" Instigator said after regaining her composure though she still seemed winded. "He is telling you the truth. He thinks you're out of your _mind._"

"He is out of his mind, _absolutely_ out of his mind." Obliterator pulled the blade away from his brother's throat and slipped it back into the cane carrying case. Destroyer stared at Venom accusingly but seemed to believe his sister's judgment and calmed considerably. In fact, he seemed calmer than he'd been since he'd walked into the room; almost as calm as siblings, but there was still a twitch of something insane beneath his calm exterior that he couldn't hide.

"Vengeful Venom." Korse interrupted and the three corpse colored siblings ceased talking and moving at the sound of his voice. "You have one more chance to answer my questions. Any _one_ of them will result in a reward for you as was mentioned earlier." Venom watched the four of them and sat terrified, fixed to his overturned seat. _If I give them a little information I can avoid punishment and perhaps get to work on escaping. No! No I can't do that. I can't betray the Killjoys, not even a little bit. I've got to stick to my guns, no matter how terrifying these three are. I came here to kill them anyway, maybe now I can find a way._ Venom looked back to Korse and shook his head.

"I'd rather die." Venom whispered in response.

"Oh you will die. But not until I have _everything_ I need from you." Korse opened the door behind him and allowed Destroyer and Instigator to leave the room without instruction. "He's yours Obliterator. Don't _kill_ him. I still need him." Korse turned without another word and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Obliterator watched the others leave the room and turned back to face Vengeful Venom. He leaned his cane against the wall and slipped his gloves off of his fingers, one by one. The gloves fell on the floor next to the cane after they were properly removed and straightened.

"I'm not like my brother and sister you know." He whispered threateningly, but with a strange undertone that seemed almost _friendly_.

"Really? I'm guessing that's a lie." Venom responded, preparing himself for whatever punishment he was in for. To his surprise, Obliterator helped push his chair back into an upright position and pulled his bonds off of his wrists and ankles. Venom didn't make a move to escape the chair afterward, not trusting this action for a moment.

"Oh no, I'm _much_ different than they are. I have some self control." Obliterator nodded for him to get up and out of his chair. "You saw Destroyer, how quickly he snapped at just the mention that you were a Killjoy. My sister keeps her composure a bit better but is just as mad. Come on, get up. Instigator did a number on your mind when she was searching for answers, didn't she?" Venom still refused to answer or move from where he sat on the chair. Obliterator was losing his patience with the man in the chair and reached forward very quickly, faster than Venom could actually see with his own eyes. Obliterator's hand was on his collar and pulling him up easily from the chair as though he weighed nothing at all. "I said get on your feet."

"You won't get anything out of me, no matter what you do to me. You're wasting your energy."

"I don't care." Obliterator shook his head, forcing Venom into a standing position and releasing his collar. "I don't care what Better Living Industries wants. I don't care what Korse wants. I don't care what my brother and sister want."

"Then why are you listening to any of them?" Venom was curious and partially terrified by this new revelation. All he could do was prepare to defend himself against Obliterator. He wondered if there was a knife still hidden within his breast pocket or if it had been removed upon his capture. Reaching for it now would be a risk, he'd have to bide his time. Seeing how fast Obliterator had moved only seconds ago, assured him that if he went for it now, he'd lose the knife and possibly an arm.

"Convenience." Obliterator thought about his response. "They give me what I want and return I give them what they want."

"And what is it you want?"

"Blood." Obliterator shoved his palm hard against Venom's chest, forcing Venom backward and off of his feet, tripping over the chair he'd once sat in, flipping it over once again and forcing him hard against the wall, enough to make the room shake. Obliterator walked slowly toward the man, cracking his knuckles and Venom braced himself for what he was sure would be the beating of his life. _If I can make it through this, I can escape. I just have to defend myself the best I can._

* * *

><p>"This is idiotic." Frenzy whispered as the group crept slowly through Battery City in search of <em>something<em>. Frenzy wasn't sure what they were looking for since none of them had communicated their purpose properly as they walked. If their walking in circles persisted much longer she planned on disappearing into an alley before they would notice that she had gone. For the most part she had been the quietest of the group so far. The only remarks she'd made up until this point had done nothing but make the others feel and act awkwardly. Death-iNation and Zeppelin Rocket had been catching up like long lost friends while they walked and Marilyn Deathrow had managed to sneak her way into the conversation occasionally.

_This isn't some Killjoy reunion of sorts, I have shit to do and if these three can't put that aside and help me then I'm going to ditch them. Or shoot them. I haven't decided yet._

"Calm down, Frenzy." Zeppelin Rocket chuckled through another cigarette. "We're on our way so why can't we enjoy exchanging a story or two in the process? No time is better than the present for we may _all_ be dead by morning."

"He has a point you know. We're not going to get caught because we're talking quietly amongst ourselves. If anything else we look _less_ secretive by making casual conversation." Death-iNation reasoned with the woman.

"Except that we _are_ being secretive and we have _things_ to do or have you forgotten that already?" Frenzy responded. She had nothing against them socializing, she just wanted no part in it. Having had her fill of socialization out in the zones with Party Poison and his crew Frenzy's fuse was running short and she merely rolled her eyes.

"Hey." Marilyn stopped walking and looked to Fire Frenzy apologetically. "We're almost there okay? I know a few places that the more powerful Dracs in the City go to after their shifts. They get drunk and party the night away. If you can just wait a few more minutes until we get there I can make my way into the restaurant and lure one of them out with the promise of a freebie. You can meet me in the alley and from there hopefully get the information that you need." Marilyn Deathrow smiled triumphantly, rather proud of the plan she had come up with to help this strange woman she'd been angry at for ruining her chances at a sale only an hour prior.

"Fine." Frenzy nodded. "At least _someone_ wants to get something done here."

"Aw, don't be like that." Zeppelin continued smiling despite the serious situation.

"We all want to help you Frenzy. We're just not all as uptight as you are." Death-iNation knew the woman had more than enough reason to be cranky, but wanted to help her calm down a bit before she blew a gasket and overheated or something along those lines.

"I'm _not_ uptight." Frenzy objected monotonously.

"You are a little bit." Marilyn smiled and then continued to lead the group through the streets of the City. Nation crept next to her, making sure that the roads ahead of them were cleared of anyone who might recognize and report them. Luckily most of the citizens of the City who were out at this hour, just before the curfew were trying to avoid being seen as well. People barely looked up from the ground as they walked to their final destinations of the night, hoping not to be questioned by Dracs or be forced into conversation with a stranger.

"Does it really matter if I am or not?"

"Loosen up a little!" Zeppelin clasped the smaller woman on the shoulders and gave her a friendly smile along with a squeeze. "We're going to help you kick some Drac ass, this is a good time."

"Lay off, Rocky." Death-iNation glanced back at the two. "She's been through a lot and is _probably_ in some pain after her ordeal."

"Oh, so that's the problem, hmm?" Zeppelin Rocket smiled and continued his walk behind Fire Frenzy, deciding it was best for him to bring up the rear. "She's in pain and that's why she's so quiet and crabby!"

"No, I'm quiet because if I said everything I was thinking I'm _sure_ that you would be offended." Frenzy _was_ sore and pained from walking around for so long on her wounded and infected leg but she wasn't going to admit that to any of them. The pain killers would be enough to last her until the end of her journey as long as this group she was with could concentrate long enough to get to this restaurant Marilyn had mentioned before the end of the week.

"I like that about you, actually." Marilyn smiled, turning a corner and leading them into a small alleyway next to a large, loud restaurant. "Honestly _is_ the best policy after all. Not enough people say what's on their mind."

"I think it's rotten." Zeppelin Rocket shrugged. "It's _nice_ to know the truth but sometimes it's best to sugarcoat things as to not cause conflict. And mostly because I don't really care what people _don't_ like about me."

"Oh shut up, you love conflict." Marilyn stole what remained of the man's cigarette, took a long drag and then shoved it to the ground, crushing it beneath her pink heel as she exhaled the smoke. "I'm going in the front door of the restaurant, okay? They'll let me in if I say I'm entertainment. I'm going to come out this door with one of the Dracs. If I'm not out in twenty minutes, for the love of God, someone come in after me okay? I'm not ready to die so someone better save me. Don't send Frenzy though, I think she'd have _too_ much fun shooting her way out." Marilyn smiled cheerily then started around the front of the building before anyone could object to what she was going to do.

Death-iNation looked particularly nervous as he watched her leave. Zeppelin Rocket shook his head in disapproval and nudged the slightly shorter man. "You still on that, man?"

"I prefer not to put it like that, but yeah." Nation whispered, feeling awkward talking about it around Fire Frenzy after the way she'd taunted him earlier in his apartment. Even if it had been unintentional taunting, it had shaken him nonetheless and left him rather embarrassed.

"I don't know how you let her do this shit, Nation." Zeppelin put his hands in his jacket pockets, continuing making his small talk while they waited for Marilyn to return. "If I were dating a girl like her I'd go out of my mind thinking of the other guys… But I'm a pretty jealous guy, what can I say?"

"And yet you still hire her when you _know_ that I'm with her." Death-iNation rolled his eyes. "I can't change who she is, not easily. I don't want to be her keeper."

"I guess I can get that, but still. Damn." Zeppelin Rocket sensed the awkwardness and hunched forward to look Frenzy in the eyes, the woman being far shorter than him. "So what the hell happened to you, anyway? Who hurt you like that?" Zeppelin poked the bandages peeking out from underneath her jacket. Frenzy stared at him skeptically but didn't bother to respond to let him know what had happened. As far as she was concerned, it was none of his business what had happened to her. Plus, reliving that nightmare didn't seem like the smartest idea when she was already grinding her teeth to keep herself calm.

"Better Living's newest toys got a hold of her a few days ago. She's healing up pretty nicely but probably would've died if I hadn't gotten there when I did." Death-iNation filled in the blanks for Zeppelin Rocket. "Afraid it's not the last we've seen of them, either. I met them in person a few times before this but I was working for Better Living and kept my head down as to not attract their attention. They're scary as hell even when they're not after you. Like watching ghosts run around."

"What, that IOD thing you were talking about the other day? The one you were warning me to be on the lookout for now that it was in its test phase?" Zeppelin looked intrigued. "By what Nation's told me about that, you are _lucky_ that you are just a little bit cranky after what they're capable of."

"She doesn't want to talk about it man." Nation watched Frenzy glance away from them. It was true, Frenzy _didn't_ want to talk about the things she'd seen, the things she'd done and the pain she'd felt. The guilt was far more than she could manage and sharing it with one of them would only result in them trying to make her _feel_ better which only ever succeeded in making her irritated. Why did everyone assume when someone felt glum they needed be cheered up or were seeking some kind of attention? Maybe she just wanted to be left the hell alone.

"Ah, a bit touchy huh?"

"Those monsters are torturous, Rocky. I still don't know what they did to her in that theater, but whatever it was, neither of us need to know right now."

"That is the smartest thing I've heard anyone say all night." Fire Frenzy sighed heavily, leaning against the wall, showing her fatigue for the first time that night. Luckily before either man could muse further on the subject the door on the side of the building opened. Marilyn stumbled down the stairs, giggling playfully, her arm looped through that of a bulky looking man still wearing his Drac uniform, minus the face mask they usually wore within the City walls.

"Right back here okay? We'll find a quiet place…" Marilyn whispered and pulled the man down the stairs while Nation, Frenzy and Zeppelin Rocket leaned against the wall next to the door, waiting for it to close before they made their move. Marilyn kept the man's back to the group and continued to entice him with the deal she'd clearly offered him within the restaurant. Frenzy didn't wait another second after she heard the door close.

She approached the Drac from behind and kicked hard at the back of his knee, hearing a sickening snap. Gasping in pain since Marilyn had moved quick enough to cover his mouth, the Drac fell to his knees as Frenzy offered another kick to the back of his knee. Despite the pain he was clearly in, it hadn't seemed to dawn on him yet that he'd been attacked and he merely gawked stupidly up at Marilyn Deathrow.

Grabbing the Drac by his shoulder Frenzy spun him around to face her and shoved him hard up against the wall, forcing him onto his butt and pressing her forearm to his throat, to stifle any sounds he might make in objection.

"Damn!" Zeppelin Rocket laughed in surprise. Death-iNation shushed him and watched, prepared to step in if the girls needed any help. Frenzy pressed her arm firmly to the man's throat and cut to the chase. Having spent more than enough time gabbing unnecessarily with these other Killjoys had shortened her patience considerably and she was more than ready to get the answered she sought.

"Tell me where Better Living has moved the IOD project. Tell me where they're keeping the rest of the orphans or you will die right here in this alley." She said flatly and threateningly, not having bothered to reach for her gun yet. The man was clearly inebriated and stupid at this point and hadn't quite understood what was going on. With foggy eyes he glanced from Fire Frenzy to Marilyn Deathrow then back to Frenzy again. He didn't seem to notice Zeppelin Rocket and Death-iNation watching behind them.

"Didn't realize this was going to be a three way sweetheart! I'm into that…" The Drac chuckled stupidly and reached sloppily for Marilyn's garter. Frenzy grabbed the man's face forcefully and shoved him so he was looking at her once again.

"Answer me." Frenzy continued, ignoring the Drac's drunken flirtations.

"Oh she likes it rough this one, doesn't she? Are you ladies up for a bit of role play?" He chuckled again, stuttering on his words.

"Tell me!" Frenzy shoved at the man again, convincing herself quickly she wasn't going to get any answers. A third attempt at flirting was too much. Frustration filled her to a point where all she saw was red. The anger and pain she'd stifled for the last week since Party Poison had taken her lighter that night in the bar had built up to a point where she couldn't control it anymore. Releasing his neck Frenzy shoved her foot into the man's stomach, watching him belly over, rolling onto his side on the filthy concrete.

"Too rough…" The Drac coughed, seemingly still not understanding he was under attack and none of this was any sort of sexual escapade. Shoving him fully to the ground with her foot, Frenzy straddled the man and punched him in the face, then the stomach. Over and over she delivered the blows until the Drac started to cry in misery on the ground beneath her. She got off of him, returning to her feet, knuckles sufficiently skinned and bloodied. Her arms no longer seemed to want to work after delivering the blows so she resorted to kicking him in the ribs until her leg refused to kick any further. _Nation was right, you've hit your physical limit. Your mind is willing but your muscles aren't. I've got to learn my limits. _Tugging on his wrist she shoved him onto his stomach, pressed his face onto the ground and pressed her foot on the back of his head, ready to stomp.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down! That's enough!" Death-iNation spoke and Zeppelin Rocket rushed over to Frenzy, pulling her away from the body of the Drac. She thrashed and tried to get away from his grip, but her body was weak and unwilling to fight as hard as it needed to.

"He doesn't know anything! I don't have time for this anymore! He deserves to die anyway!" Frenzy shouted in irritation. Nation covered her mouth and whispered consolingly and pleadingly.

"You're not helping! You didn't even give him a chance to talk! If you keep yelling like that then you're going to get us all killed!" Death-iNation was in panic mode. Watching Frenzy beat on the Drac had been entertaining for a short time and actually had relieved some of the stress he'd felt but killing him wouldn't help either and being a Killjoy, he had a duty to stop it from happening.

"He's right, you can't kill him _yet_!" Marilyn urged, trying to calm the woman down, despite her own nerves being on edge. Frenzy slipped out of Zeppelin Rocket's arm and pulled out her ray gun, aiming it at the Drac on the ground, who was writhing in pain and trying to figure out what the hell was going on around him. He still didn't seem to fully understand that he wasn't going to get his freebie.

"You tricked me…" He sobbed, glaring up at Marilyn Deathrow accusingly. "You bitch, you…" The group in the alleyway silenced as Frenzy fired a shot through the Drac's shoulder. The Drac sobbed on the ground, bleeding. Marilyn cowered against Death-iNation's shoulder, trying not to look down at the bloody mess of a man writhing in pain. She'd seen a lot of rotten things before, but this had really shaken her.

"Take Frenzy inside, get her out of here! Calm her down!" Nation grabbed Marilyn's shoulders and instructed her on what to do. Marilyn nodded frantically and grabbed Frenzy's arm, pulling her into the building she'd snuck out of with the Drac. The room looked like it was purely for storage and hadn't been stepped into very frequently in the last few weeks, by the layer of dust that had caked on top of the shelves and the floor. Frenzy had allowed Marilyn to pull her aside instead of struggling.

Firing the shot had calmed her enough that she found the logic she had lost in her head again. _You can't let this get the best of you Fire Frenzy. You're going to get us all killed with your hasty stupid decisions. Have you changed that much in the last week? It's not like you to lose your temper so quickly and react so harshly without thinking. Oh shut up, you know damn well how quickly I lose my temper. I've held it back for long enough. The Dracs have it coming._

Frenzy's legs and arms were aching and she leaned heavily against the wall near the door. Marilyn watched her nervously unsure of what to say. It looked like Frenzy was having some kind of a fit, breathing erratically, her eyes scanning the emptiness behind Marilyn like someone was standing there. Clearly the woman was in need of some kind of help, physically and mentally.

"Calm down, Death-iNation will handle it okay? We can take it easy in here while they try to get the Drac to talk. If it doesn't work I'm sure they'll let you finish him off." Marilyn smiled but her hands were shaking and betraying her friendly nature. She'd seen violence in the City before but hadn't been that close to it in a very long time. "You didn't have to defend me like that, you know. I get insulted a lot. It comes with the job description."

"I wasn't." Frenzy pulled away from the wall and turned toward it, giving it a firm punch. Her nerves were shot and all she wanted to do was hit something until the tension in her shoulders disappeared. She hit the wall again with her other hand this time, the pain rushing all the way up through her shoulder.

"Don't! Don't do that! You're going to get us caught!" Marilyn was frantic at this point. _Maybe if I can keep talking I can distract her. But what the hell do I talk about? I don't know anything about her!_ "I never wanted to be like this you know!" Marilyn said the first thing on her mind. She'd been thinking more and more about how she'd gotten to this point in her life lately. Living with Death-iNation had made her question the choices she'd made in the past. Fire Frenzy stared at Marilyn Deathrow skeptically but didn't move to hit anything else or yell at anyone. Marilyn could hear some kind of fight going on outside of the room in the alleyway and kept talking to distract them both from it.

"I was a normal girl growing up. Well, as normal as anyone could be growing up in a place like this. I wanted to be a writer, see I just _love_ to read. I'd always dreamt of being a great novelist. I'm sure you saw the books in Death-iNation's apartment. He… he got them for me because he just knew how much I missed the banned books. He stole dozens, just for me." Frenzy watched Marilyn talk, wondering what the point of this girl's story was and chose to listen rather than judge. It was a welcome distraction from her unpleasant thoughts.

"I wanted a life… Just like everyone else. To grow up and go to college, have a career, get married and… settle down. Just a normal ordinary life. I know it must sound _stupid_ to want to be normal but I wanted it. I still want it but… as I got older I realized the only way to get by in this world was to cheat, lie and con people into getting what you want. When I was old enough to realize that men _wanted_ my body and would do just about _anything_ for it I started selling what I could offer. It was hard at first but over the years it got easier. I became numb to the pain of it. I took on the name Marilyn Deathrow and traded sexual favors for provisions to get by." Marilyn continued talking, hanging her head low.

"I can't say I'm proud that things turned out this way but I can't say I'm ashamed either. I'm a prostitute but I've read Dickens, Poe, and HG Wells… my favorite. I may never get to write, but at least I can escape to the world's they've created in my mind. How many people living in this City can say that?" Marilyn sighed contently, realizing that her story had actually managed to distract Frenzy from whatever had been going on in her head. Frenzy was still trying to find the _point_ of this story but even if it didn't have a point, she found herself not minding listening. _I think she's talking for the sake of talking. What's the point of that? She's just telling me about her life, why would she bother? I don't know her. Maybe she wants you to know her._

"I tried to write too you know. I didn't just give up on it. I have journals and journals filled with musings. I know there's no hope of me ever selling anything with the rules here in Battery City but maybe… just maybe someday someone will find them and put them in a book for others to see. And if not, at least I know I tried." Marilyn looked down at her shoes, shuffling her feet nervously. "You know _why_ I started writing?" Looking up for confirmation, Marilyn wondered if Fire Frenzy was actually listening or just spacing out.

"Why?" Frenzy said after realizing the story wouldn't continue unless she gave a vocal response.

"I was afraid I'd forget my name, of all things. After years of calling myself Marilyn Deathrow and never speaking it out loud I began to doubt what my name actually had been. I started keeping a journal and signing my name at the bottom of each page. Not my Killjoy name, my _real_ name. I didn't realize how easy it was to lose my identity until I'd almost lost it completely." Marilyn whispered. There had been no purpose or reason for what she'd said. Talking seemed to be the only way to distract the girl at the moment. For some reason, Marilyn understood why reasoning wasn't going to work in the situation. Luckily, she'd read Fire Frenzy pretty well and the distraction had done its job.

"Pois…" Frenzy began and cleared her throat, deciding to choose her words more wisely. "Someone kept asking me my real name in the last week." Frenzy whispered after a few moments of straining to listen to the muffled beating outside in the alleyway. Marilyn was surprised as Frenzy actually _opened_ up to her. _I'd taken her for the type to keep to herself and be all defensive about her past and personal issues. Perhaps people just haven't bothered to ask the right questions._

"I'm guessing since you implied this person asked several times that you _didn't_ tell them what it was." Marilyn received a nod in response. Fire Frenzy looked lost somewhere outside of this room and Marilyn suddenly felt bad for the clearly conflicted woman. "Well, why didn't you tell them what it was?"

"I don't remember what it was." Frenzy glanced up at Marilyn after staring into space for a moment. She'd actually _tried_ to recall it for awhile there but found nothing in the confines of her mind. It'd been so long since anyone had called her by a real name that she'd forgotten entirely what it had been in the past. It seemed like another life. The girl she'd been before Fire Frenzy didn't exist anymore, as far as she was concerned. Frenzy had done her best to drown that girl out with alcohol, drugs, and violence. Marilyn went to respond when the door to the alleyway opened up and Zeppelin Rocket, bleeding from one nostril peeked his head in with a smile on his face.

"As long as Fire Frenzy isn't going to flip her lid again, you two are welcome to come back outside." Zeppelin held the door open and Marilyn walked out of it. Frenzy followed after a moment. "Feeling better? I know I would be if I wailed on a Drac like that." Rocky seemed far more sympathetic to Fire Frenzy after watching her attack the Drac the way she had.

"I'll feel better when I know what you found out." Frenzy noticed the bloody heap near the trash cans that was what remained of the Drac they'd attacked.

"He told us where we can find IOD after much _convincing._" Death-iNation looked wary, but the tone in his voice betrayed what he'd said. Clearly they'd beaten the answers out of the Drac and left him for dead in the garbage. "The orphans are in the same place as IOD."

"Good." Frenzy sighed with relief. "Let's get going then." Frenzy started down the alleyway.

"Not so fast." Rocky grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving, twisting around on one foot with the momentum of her walking. "There's more to it than that."

"What else did he tell you?" Marilyn stood with her back to the Drac, not wanting to look at the gore that the group had caused. A strange guilt filled her as she saw the result of the con job she'd pulled within the restaurant. Nation had a fat lip, it looked like the Drac had sobered up and tried to fight.

"The Dracs are planning to move out in the morning against the Killjoys." Death-iNation took a deep breath and continued on. "They're going to ambush from the west, be joined by a gas mask army from the outer zones, along with the armies from the City. They're planning on stomping out the Killjoys once and for all."

"No…" Marilyn covered her mouth in horror.

"That means they won't be on our guard when we break in. We can stop them from here." Frenzy seemed antsy to continue going but had begun to walk with a limp. None of them had noticed the blood on her body until they were in the light of the alleyway.

"She can't keep walking around like this and we can't just run into Better Living Industries buildings without proper ammunition and preparation." Marilyn reasoned, still panicking at the idea of losing the Killjoys. She may not have approved of all of their methods but she was sure they were the lesser evil against Better Living Industries and the only reason they had any freedoms left to speak of. Marilyn leaned up on her toes to whisper in Nation's ear. "She needs a drink, and to take it easy. She's shaken and hurting but not admitting it." Leaning back down to address the rest of the group, Marilyn continued. "We can head back to Nation's apartment and lay low until we're cleaned up and prepared to go. Nation knows most of these buildings like the back of his hand. We should be able to sneak in."

"I'm afraid I'm not going with you this time." Zeppelin Rocket spoke up. "As much as I would love to break into the bowels of Better Living, someone has _got_ to warn the Killjoys."

"That's right. We can't let them be ambushed by Better Living Industries. Even if we only give them a few hours notice, we'll still manage to give them more of an alert than they had." Nation nodded to agree. "Marilyn, take Fire Frenzy back to the apartment and get cleaned up. Start preparing for our attack, you know where I keep the weapons." Nation turned to look at Zeppelin Rocket. "I'll accompany you to the air strip on the west end. Flying is your best bet. I can break into one of the buildings there and get you the keys to one of the planes. Then you can fly and warn the Killjoys."

"In the eastern camp in the third zone." Fire Frenzy chimed in for the first time since they'd started making this plan. As much as she didn't want to waste anymore time she couldn't stand the idea of Party Poison being ambushed without any warning either. "The western zone has been compromised. If you tell them Nation sent you I'm sure they'll believe you. For the love of God, don't let them plan to hunker down in that base. That's the first place Better Living will be looking for them." Nation and Zeppelin Rocket looked surprised at her willingness to help with the idea.

"Thanks for that. Hey… Good luck, okay? Don't do anything _too_ stupid." Zeppelin Rocket gave Marilyn a hug and went to do the same for Fire Frenzy but hesitated and instead decided to pat her on the arm.

"Same to you." Marilyn waved and blew a kiss to the boys before turning on her heels. "I hope you're still as good a shot as you were earlier because it's just me and you for the next hour out in the City.

"Trust me, my aim is fine."


	30. Changing Perspective

No matter what he did to try and distract from the woman he missed so desperately, Tiger Beatdown's thoughts about her wouldn't cease. _I never got to tell her that I'd fallen in love with her. I never got to tell her that I wasn't with her just because I was afraid to be alone for the rest of my life. She didn't need to mold to the dream I had, we could've had a new dream for us both, a new life, as long as she was in it with me that's all that really mattered. Now she's gone and it's too late. It's too late for anything. Nothing will ever be right again._ Tiger paced back and forth outside of the tent he'd been given to sleep in for the duration of his stay in the Eastern camp. There were many others like him without a proper place to lay their heads, contemplating their thoughts in front of their temporary homes lined up in a row along the western edge of the camp, behind the more permanent homes of its residents. His gaze fell on the tent next to his where a woman he didn't recognize seated with her back toward him, held something that seemed precious to her, protectively in her lap.

_So many people lost things that were precious to them this last week; it's not just me who is suffering such a loss._ Approaching carefully, Tiger sat down next to the woman and saw the item she was holding was an old crinkled photograph of a man and a woman in front of an old piece-of-shit car in the desert. Placing a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder, Tiger hesitantly spoke.

"Who was he?" The woman contemplated his question, glancing at him every few moments as if to decide whether or not he was worthy of trusting with her story. _No one has their reputations to rely on anymore amongst the Killjoys. We're all starting from scratch thanks to Phoenix Fury and Better Living Industries breaking the bond we once shared. _Patience was something Tiger Beatdown had mastered over the years, particularly after working with Agent Alpaca for so long, so he let her take her time with her decision of whether or not to tell him her story. She stared at him and then back at her photograph, the gears clearly turning behind her sad brown eyes.

_I just need a small distraction from the torture within my mind. If I keep thinking about what I didn't get the chance to do with Disco Bitch before she walked off that day then I'm going to go crazy. How could I have ever let the things that Agent Alpaca said about our relationship get to me? It all seems so petty now knowing what I do after having found Black Cherrybomb the other day! What is it they say about things like that? The answer seems incredibly obvious only after it's been revealed? I guess it's true. I always knew the expression but it'd always seemed common sense until this moment. Clichés are like that I guess. Whoever said it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all is an idiot. _Finally the woman glanced down at the picture she held in her lap and began to speak, interrupting Tiger's renegade thoughts.

"He was my best friend." Her voice was calm and solemn, the heaviness of a cherished one lost, thick in her tone. "He was my confidant, my lover, my everything." Worn and blistered fingers traced over the faces in the old photograph of the smiling couple; the man with his arm wrapped around a much younger version of this woman Tiger Beatdown was currently speaking with.

"What happened to him?" Tiger wanted to know how she could cope with losing someone so close to her. He didn't have to ask _if_ the man had passed or not. The tone in her voice told him that much, but he was curious as to how long this woman had been nursing the very obvious empty hole within her heart. Tiger needed to know if it could ever be filled, if after losing that kind of love a person could truly move on. _I need to know if I'll ever wake up without aching again._

"Dracs took him from me after a raid. I never saw him again. He was made an example of. I didn't even get to say goodbye." The woman's voice was heavy and her eyes distant, as if trapped in some half-remembered dream. Tiger Beatdown hadn't heard any reports of anything like that happening recently and his heart sunk in his chest upon realizing that the wound she held in her heart, though it appeared fresh, was not recent.

"…I'm sorry to hear that… when… when did this happen? If you don't mind my asking that is."

"Ten years ago." The woman turned her head to look at the man once again, accusation behind her hazy eyes. "I know what you're thinking."

"Do you?"

"You're thinking how pathetic I must be to still miss him and mourn his loss the way I do. All these young Killjoys that have been dying over the past week, I can't help but think about him! We were young back then, too. I never got to say _goodbye_." Tiger could tell that thought was eating at her, having repeated it now since they started talking. "I never told him how much he meant to me. I couldn't tell him how waking up in the morning was nearly impossible to find his bed empty after he was gone, even to this day." The woman was clearly emotional but had managed to master holding back tears, probably from years of mourning and upset while telling her stories to others like him who had asked..

"I don't think that at all." Tiger Beatdown spoke to her, but looked down at the picture she held so tightly and desperately between her fingers, contemplating what he'd learned about her. If nothing else, the story was helping him think of something other than his own sad story.

"Every one of those people that died out there had a life. They had a family and friends who cared about them. _Everyone_ has someone in their life that will be empty without them even if they think that they don't. Death is always senseless and someone always ends up mourning. All this needless death around us, it's killing us more than Better Living Industries is."

"Do you regret fighting for our cause, then?" Tiger asked after a moment of reflection, wondering if he'd made the wrong choice after all these years. Maybe he should've lived a quiet life the best he could somewhere within the City that loomed in the distance against the gray and dull sky. Sure, he would've had to take Better Living Industries' drugs and follow their rules, essentially living life their way but at least he would still _have_ a life to lead. He wasn't living any kind of _life_ leading the Killjoys, he was living a _cause_ and a seemingly hopeless one at that. _I've never second guessed myself like this before. She's right, all this death around us is needless. We're condemning ourselves to death out here in the desert, taking away our own chance at real lives._

"No! Not at all." The woman looked shocked and upset that he would even guess that's what she had been trying to say. "Dear boy, that is not at all what I meant when I said that. That thought never even crossed my mind!"

"But all this killing, all this death, you're right… We fight a cause that's nearly hopeless! We could all die without knowing love, without knowing we had family or getting the chance to start a family of our own! Doesn't it all seem so senseless?" The woman slipped her legs beneath her and sat on her knees, turning to face Tiger Beatdown. Setting down the picture in front of her she grabbed both of his gloved hands, speaking in a serious, but mothering tone. Looking at her face to face, Tiger could see the woman was still young but clearly aged by the stress of living in the zones and the loss she'd faced at such a young age. In fact, Tiger Beatdown was sure she couldn't have been much older than he was and this startled him.

"Even if we stopped fighting and lived the way Better Living Industries wanted us to, they'd _still_ be killing us. They'd still be doing things underhanded and hurting us. They'd control us the way that they do now, even if we weren't fighting and it'd probably be a lot worse without the Killjoys there to try and stop them. They'd get away with a lot worse than they do and no one would hold them accountable. We force them to reflect on what they're doing, if nothing else."

"But what's the point? If we're not stopping them or making any huge difference, then what is the goddamn point?" Tiger looked desperate for answers now. "What's the point of putting ourselves through this hell out in the desert just to suffer the same fate we would if we lived under their rule? At least if we complied we'd have the people we loved for a bit longer and a chance at what they call _normal_."

"No, no young man…" Carefully, the woman scooted closer and put her hands on either side of Tiger Beatdown's face. "It's _not_ pointless. If we all lived the way Better Living Industries wanted us to then… we'd be telling them that it is okay to control us how they see fit and it's _not_. Think of the things we experience out here that wouldn't be able to otherwise! Love, passion, anger, aggression, freedom… The books we can choose to read, the music we can listen to… the freedom to do what we want and to make our own choices on how to live our lives. I know this life is hard, out here in the desert, but it is life on our own terms. Sure, we dedicate what we have left to taking down Better Living Industries but don't you see? We can have _both_ a life and a cause. We can fight against Better Living Industries and still have real lives."

Tiger merely stared at the woman like her head had exploded and the aftermath was raining down around him. _How can we have both? I can't be a leader and a lover, can I? I'd have to give up what was most important to me when I was younger to live out a dream with a woman who I might have already lost forever!_

"I fought by his side." The woman nodded to the picture. "I fought with him until he gave up his last breath for the cause. I miss him every waking moment of everyday but I had my best years with him. Our time was short and ended too early but I don't regret it at all and I know he'd do things the same way if he knew the outcome. What's the point of life without the freedom to choose how we live? What's the point without something to believe in? We fought against Better Living Industries _while_ we loved each other. Our love, in itself, was a big middle finger to everything they stand for. We'd love the way we want, with who we wanted, whenever we wanted, and nothing they did to us could take that away from us no matter how hard our life became." Tiger sat and contemplated the woman's words, staring down at the picture next to her, the one she'd so carefully tended to.

_I could be the leader of the Western Killjoys and Disco Bitch could stand by my side and help me lead. I don't have to give up what I do to live my dream too._ It seemed so fucking simple when he put it that way. Why did he have to be just a lover, a father, a husband? Why couldn't he be a fighter too? Why couldn't he be all of these things? There was nothing stopping him, nothing except for the fact that he'd let the woman he'd fallen in love with walk out of the front gates because he couldn't find an answer for her to a simple question.

"I can tell you're hurting." Tiger woke up from his thoughts when the woman spoke to him again. "I've seen you pacing a hole in the ground in front of that tent for days. Whoever you lost, whoever it is that you're missing? Find her. Don't let her go." A smile formed on her face and though the light in her eyes was still dulled by sorrow, she seemed happy to know that her words may have been helping someone else. "Even if she's already gone, don't let her go. You never give up on that kind of love, son. I never did and I never will." Pulling her hands back into her lap she turned away and knew that Tiger Beatdown had finally heard all he had needed to hear.

"Thank you." Getting to his feet, Tiger dusted his knees off and looked around. _Where do I begin? I have to find Disco Bitch. She's out in the desert and I gave up looking for her without a fight. I let her go that day and I'm not going to let her go now._ "I don't even know your name and you've helped me so much."

"It's not my name you'll remember in all of this anyway." The woman smiled thoughtfully but didn't look away from the picture she held in her hands once again. "It's the lesson you learned."

"Thank you, again." He smiled again, feeling awkward that he couldn't properly thank the woman who'd guided him to his epiphany.

"Go! You are wasting valuable time!" A laugh escaped her lips and Tiger turned away quickly. He needed his gun. Going to his tent to retrieve it, he cleaned himself up properly. Never once before this had he neglected his hygiene the way he had over the past few days and he vowed he never would again after that. He'd always been the sort to pride himself with the way that he looked.

Cleaning up the few possessions he'd gathered in the last week he slung his bag over his shoulder and turned away from his tent. _Since I won't need it anymore, someone else might as well use it._ Tiger started toward Party Poison's house. He'd let the man know that he was leaving and then head on his way to search for Disco Bitch out in the desert. Even if it meant leaving someone else in charge of his duties while he was gone, it was worth it. Disco Bitch wasn't only his lover, she was a valuable asset to the Killjoys and he would find her or die trying.

"Don't do it Tiger." Agent Alpaca stopped him in his walk. He'd seen his best friend packing up frantically and knew exactly what he'd been thinking when he'd started toward Party Poison's house in the middle of the camp. Tiger Beatdown stopped walking, preparing to explain to his best friend what he needed to do and why. "I _understand_ how much you care for her, I do. I may not have ever experienced it myself but I _get_ it. But going out into the desert on your own? It's suicide."

"You can't stop me Agent Alpaca." Tiger turned to face his friend and set his bag down at his feet. There was no threatening tone in his voice, not even a hint of upset in his words. "I'm going after her. I _need_ to go after her. She's one of us. When she didn't kill me that day she took a huge risk. She could've _shot_ me where I stood with those kids that afternoon and she chose not to do it when she _knew_ that we would likely kill her for treason without a trial of any kind. It's about time I risked my life for her and returned the favor. Even if she wasn't the woman I'd fallen in love with through this adventure I'd still be going after her. She deserves far better than being some fucked up experiment for Better Living Industries." Tiger explained very hastily. The more time he took to explain to everyone that he was leaving, the less daylight he'd have to start his search in.

He'd known the general location of where they'd found Black Cherrybomb and assumed that wherever this facility had been hidden it couldn't be terribly far from there. If she'd been as wounded as Cherrybomb had said she was, then certainly she couldn't have trudged too far in the desert after her escape.

"You don't know this area at all." Agent Alpaca had a list of reasons why Tiger Beatdown shouldn't go after Disco Bitch, none of them involving his disapproval of the hasty relationship. "I'll admit it, I was scared to see you throwing yourself at some woman, particularly one that had tried to kill you, but I guess I was afraid of losing my best friend too at the time. Now I'm just afraid you're going to get yourself killed for no reason. I see how much you care for her but you running out into the desert without any direction or plan? It's going to do _no one_ any good. You're going to end up being another person missing in the desert. Stay here, help us plot our next move against Better Living Industries. You could help us take back our base, our home in the west. Hell, you could help rebuild this shitty camp too if you wanted. There's so much to do that's just as important as finding Disco. We need you here as a leader. These people, they need you. Party Poison needs you."

"I'm not here though, Alpaca!" Tiger Beatdown seemed to realize this all at once and wondered why it hadn't come to mind earlier. "I'm not here! I haven't been here since I let her walk away that afternoon. Out there in that desert, being tortured and experimented on? That's where I am. I'm there with her, and I've got to go find myself before I can come back here and save these people too. I'll come back, I promise, but not until I find her." Tiger continued on. Agent Alpaca opened his mouth to continue when the door to Party Poison's house opened up. Tiger knew that Poison would get involved now and they'd argue about it for the same reasons. _I have to stand my ground._ Poison would advise him against leaving and he'd end up having to sneak out on his own accord. _Nothing is going to stop me._

Party Poison was dragging one of the chairs from his house behind him and set it in front of his door. People were gathering around to see what he had to say. Tiger Beatdown looked curiously to Agent Alpaca who returned the glance. Standing on top of the chair, Poison held up his arms to gather the attention of those around him.

"I'm leaving." Poison spoke loudly so everyone could hear him, one hand on his belt buckle. He'd spent the last few hours staring at his bed, trying to decide his next move and he'd decided on it after much turmoil.

"What?" Captain Phantom widened her eye, stopping her hushed conversation with her brother. "You can't leave! That's stupid! Where the hell are you going?"

"I'm going into Battery City." Poison said very simply. "None of you are coming with me, so don't even offer."

"You're an idiot, Poison!" Commander Cutlass chimed in. Jet-Star stood next to him, nodding his head to agree with the sentiment.

"You're a valuable target to them. You can't just walk into the City and expect to survive for more than an hour. You're practically enemy number one there." Fun Ghoul rationalized, looking rather distressed to hear this news of his friend's decision.

"Look, I'm going to the City and nothing any of you could say is going to stop me." Party Poison continued. "I'm not _fit_ to lead you right now, not until I do this. I'm not abandoning my post or anything like that. I'll be back. There are things I have to do in the City but I have to do this for myself to come back and lead you." Finding out about Kobra Kid being the traitor had done a number on Poison's head but it'd also made him realize how terrified he was that he was going to lose another person in his life.

His brother would _always_ be his brother no matter what decisions he'd made involving the Dracs and he'd love him with all of his heart for the rest of his life. After the initial shock of finding out about his brother's secret in his dire confession, he'd realized that it was likely Kobra Kid hadn't betrayed them of his own accord. Perhaps, somewhere in the desert, Disco Bitch was suffering the same fate that had befallen his brother.

"And what the hell are we supposed to do in your absence huh? The _moment_ Better Living Industries gets word that you've left us, they're going to strike." Neon Acid looked frustrated and betrayed by Party Poison's decision to leave.

"Oh come the fuck on." Poison rolled his eyes and put his hand on his hip. "When was the last time you _needed_ me to guide you? Huh? Yeah, I get it, I make all the decisions, I lead us into battle and all that important leader shit but when it comes down to it you _all_ know what you have to do out here. That's what's great about the fucking Killjoys! Even if I _died_ out there in the heat of the battle you wouldn't give up and be helpless and fucking lost. You'd fucking fight harder for what you know is right and that's all you need while I'm gone." The crowd couldn't argue with that, though Captain Phantom was going to do her damndest.

"So that's it? You're just saying 'see you later and good luck'? What's so damn important in the City anyway?"

"It's none of your business but in my absence you'll answer to Phoenix Fury." Poison cleared his throat and waited for the chorus of objections.

"What?"

"Come on!"

"That asshole?"

"He's not fit to lead!"

"Are you fucking joking?" Even Phoenix Fury was _incredibly_ confused with this decision. People around Poison were arguing and becoming restless.

"Hey! Hey! Assholes, shut the fuck up and listen! You all trust me, right?" There was a chorus of conflicting agreement mixed with insults and then Poison continued on. "Then follow this mother fucker for a few days, okay? I know, I know, he let Dracs into the camp. I get it, you're upset with him, but get the fuck over it! My _brother_ tricked him into it and he's passionate as hell about this cause. He _knows_ when he's wrong and he will do the right thing when it comes to battle. Fun Ghoul, Jet-Star… Please guide him and don't be a bunch of dicks about it either, okay? He needs your support and I need you all to pitch in. I have to do this!"

Party Poison had spent the last ten years of his life, at the very least, worrying about the others around him and the situation with Better Living Industries in Battery City. He'd neglected his own wants, desires and needs to a point where he'd become an alcoholic, a drug addict, and finally a sex addict and it was about damn time he took care of himself even if it was just for a few days.

"He's right." Tiger Beatdown walked to where Party Poison stood and looked pleadingly to the crowd. He hadn't objected when he hadn't been the one left in charge of the camp. Clearly Poison knew that he was emotionally compromised and had his own demons to battle, so had spared him the responsibility. "No one in this camp has sacrificed more than Party Poison to this cause over the years and if whatever he has to do in the City is so fucking important to him that he has to leave the Killjoys for a few days then you should all trust that he has to do it!" Tiger looked knowingly to Agent Alpaca who avoided his gaze.

"That's it. There are no more questions, because I have no more answers for you." Party Poison stepped down from the chair he'd stood on and looked to Tiger Beatdown. Slowly the crowd around him started to disperse. "Thank you." Poison sighed heavily. "Good luck with Disco." Tiger looked surprised that Poison knew exactly what had been on his mind. "Take whatever supplies you need. I've got to head out while there's still light left. You should too" Poison turned his back to Tiger and started toward Phoenix Fury who stood staring at the man in awe still.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Phoenix Fury spat out at once. For a man of his size and stature he sure seemed absolutely terrified of this huge responsibility Party Poison had given him. _His age is showing, I guess he's not as much of a tough guy as he'd been pretending to be._

"You wanted to lead the Killjoys to victory right? Well, here's your chance." Party Poison shrugged his shoulders as though this were blatantly obvious, adjusting his holster around his waist in the process.

"Everyone hates me here, no one is going to listen to me! You've invited them to practically _lynch_ me."

"Last week you had them all convinced that _I _was a sexually abusive, child peddling traitor and they still listen to me." Party Poison scoffed. "Look, I know it's fucking scary but I'll be back before you know it. As long as you do the right thing, people will follow you."

"And what if they don't? Just because they don't like me." Phoenix Fury threw a glance toward Commander Cutlass and Captain Phantom who were both glaring at him and Poison in disapproval.

"Then they shouldn't be Killjoys. Most of these men and women have a damn good moral compass and if you steer them wrong then they're going to tell you that you're being a fucking idiot. It's part of what makes the Killjoys work. We're not some mindless organization like Better Living Industries where everyone does what they're told without asking questions. These people work so well together because they do what's _right_ not what they are _told_ is right." Poison took a deep breath.

"So what do I do?" Phoenix Fury shifted uncomfortably and crossed his arms over his chest, still looking unsettled by Party Poison's sudden decision to leave. "Stand guard? Look, I led a rebellion against you when I knew what was right and what was wrong. This is completely different."

"You still _know_ what's right and what's wrong. If I was really as fucking corrupt as you thought I was I hope that some asshole like you would come and take my fucking head. Your heart is in the right place you're just a little fucking naïve and stupid. You're young, I'll blame it on that." Phoenix Fury's eye twitched at the insult but he didn't respond. Party Poison sighed heavily, deciding to give his last bit of advice to the man before taking off.

"Man the guard and rebuild the tower. Having that gaping hole in the front of the camp is leaving us vulnerable." Poison looked around, giving Phantom and Cutlass a glance that clearly told them to stop judging him like the way they were as he spoke to Phoenix. "Send a small team to the west like you had planned to do. If you can't take back the west, tell your men to retreat and search for missing Killjoys. Don't send large teams, we're still vulnerable and the bulk of our militia needs to stay here just in case the Dracs decide to strike while I'm gone. I know for a fact that there are more Killjoys loyal to me out in the desert and if I were you I'd send Fun Ghoul and Neon Acid out looking for them."

"Why them?"

"Because if you send anyone besides them or Jet-Star then they're not going to _believe_ that I'm really back and asking for them to help you. You need Jet-Star here just in case something happens so you can't send him. He's a valuable fighter and the best damn doctor we have here. Sending him out there when so many people are recovering from injuries here is idiotic." Poison continued on. "Search for weapons and ammunition in the desert. Prepare for _war_ Phoenix Fury. Better Living Industries isn't done with whatever plan they'd set up. They're out for blood, our blood, and if you aren't prepared then they're going to win. Train, prepare, and be ready for a fucking brawl." Party Poison turned away from Phoenix Fury, leaving the man to his thoughts. He was sure once Phoenix had collected himself he'd manage to be a damn good leader.

_I haven't seen anyone so passionate about this place in years. He reminds me of when I was young and climbing to the top of the ranks of the Killjoys. Now it's his chance to prove himself. This could of course, all backfire, but it's a chance I'm willing to take. I'm following my gut with this one and my gut usually knows what it's doing. Usually._ Party Poison didn't need much to take with him, just the usual things he'd carried around with him like water and his weapons. He'd left his transmitter in the house, being certain he didn't need it in the City. People around him looked like they wanted to ask if he was out of his mind but respected his decision and let him walk toward the entrance without being bothered. Luckily most people knew how stubborn Party Poison was and were not going to make much of an attempt to stand in his way.

"I'm coming with you." Rainbow Riot approached Party Poison as he opened the door of his Trans Am. Throwing his bag in the back of the car he turned to look at Riot, preparing his speech as to why she shouldn't join him. _It would be too easy for me to get out of here without anyone giving me a hard time, I suppose._

"No you're not. You're pregnant and you're safer here than anywhere else. You need to be around a medic, not on the run in the City."

"I'm pregnant but I'm still fit to fight. I'm not showing, I'm not sick and I'm not going to _sit here_ and watch you get yourself killed when you're going after _my _friend. Listen, I am terrified that Vengeful Venom is going to get himself killed in the City doing something stupid with Better Living Industries and I know it's stupid for me to follow after him. I'm not going to follow him at this point. I know though, that Venom would want me to go after Fire Frenzy. She's one of the only friends I've kept up with over the years and she's always been there for me whenever I did something stupid so it's time I returned the favor. I know she's half out of her mind and I give her a hard time for it, but she's still important to me. And don't argue with me and say it's not about Fire Frenzy because I know what you're doing, Poison. You two may be in denial about what's going on between you but the rest of us can see it."

"If you get shot you're going to lose more than just some blood, you know. I _really_ suck at that medic shit." Poison sighed, obviously defeated. He couldn't very well tell her that she couldn't go with him when he was running just as stupidly into the City. _I'm a fucking hypocrite. I told her not to chase the man she loves into the City and now I'm running after some girl on a suicide mission. Hell, and I don't know what it is that I feel for Frenzy, but I'm still going. I can't tell her no and she's damn good at what she does. I could use her help._

"I know, and if I lose this baby because I came to help you save my friend then I won't blame you. I won't say I won't be upset because it's possibly all I have left of Vengeful Venom but I know the risks, Party Poison. I'm not hysterical anymore over this. I'm not running without thinking out my path. I've thought this through to the end. I'm coming with you whether you like it or not." Poison leaned against the front door his car as he listened to Rainbow Riot justifying her decision to come with him.

"Get in the car." Poison sat in the driver's seat and slammed his door closed. Rainbow Riot walked around to the passenger's side and climbed in. "Before I change my mind and take off without you."

"So what's the plan then?" Rainbow Riot turned in her seat to look at Poison as he punched the car in gear. _I hope he has a plan. If not, I'll have to do some very quick thinking. Poison really is going to be a giant target in the City._

"We have to figure out what Frenzy's plan is before I can make any proper decisions." Poison pulled out of the front gate. "We'll go to her bunker and search for clues then we're going into the City."

"That's not much of a plan really… She might not have left clues to where she's going. In my experience, Fire Frenzy kept all of the most information tightly locked in her head. She isn't much for leaving evidence behind."

"I know. And if we don't find anything we'll find my friend Death-iNation in the City. He's a sleeper cell and I'm positive he's gone dark after I hadn't responded to his last few notices. He was instructed to do so after a week without contact from us. I know where he lives in the City and we can find him there. We'll go from there okay?"

"Now _that_ is more of a plan. I knew you had to have more than just searching her bunker. Or at least that's what I was hoping, Poison."

"Your faith in me is absolutely astounding, Riot." Poison offered a small smirk before returning his eyes to the dirt road in front of him.

"Just keep driving."

* * *

><p>Kobra Kid had sneaked out of the infirmary to try and see his brother and set the record straight. He couldn't stand the constant image in his head of how angry and hurt his brother had been when he'd found out the truth. Curiosity had also urged him to want to know who the hell he'd been talking about when Poison had been threatening him. No one had bothered to fill Kobra Kid in on what had happened while he'd been out of his mind for so long. Now, as he wandered the camp, he was determined to fill in the gaps and apologize to his brother for what he had unknowingly done.<p>

_Not unknowingly. I could see it happening, I could hear it happening but I couldn't control a single second of it. Whatever they did to me out in the desert did a number on me but it didn't last as Better Living Industries had hoped. _His forehead was burning with fever and his fingers were tingling with malnourishment. Illness hadn't left him when the madness had, but at least now he could think clearly. In comparison to being ill and out of his mind, Kobra Kid could handle the fever and illness.

He knew that he'd deserved Poison's anger and upset initially but he wanted to make things right. No matter what happened, Party Poison was his brother and he would love him until his dying day, and probably still after that in whatever afterlife actually existed. When Party Poison pulled that chair out of his house, Kobra had hid amongst the crowd, between a group of Killjoys he didn't recognize. He'd listened to the passion in his brother's voice and knew that it wasn't the time to tell him he was sorry and try to make things right. When Poison came back, he'd have his chance and if he never got that chance, god forbid something happen to either one of them, he had faith that Party Poison's brotherly bond with him was strong enough to realize that there was nothing short of torture and brainwashing that would have made Kobra Kid betray the Killjoys.

Kobra watched the crowd disperse after Party Poison had disappeared, presumably to the City and Kobra looked around for someone else he recognized. His body was growing weak and weary but he wasn't giving up until he'd done something right. When Poison had told him about what had happened to Disco Bitch, albeit, he'd done so quite vaguely, Kobra had immediately felt the guilt for what as to become of his friend.

"Tiger!" Kobra spotted the man who'd he'd gone on missions with so many years ago before they'd been split into east and west factions._ If I can help him out, even just a little bit then I think I'll be able to redeem myself. This is only the beginning. I'll do everything I can until my last breath, however long that is from now._ Tiger stared skeptically at Kobra Kid. Agent Alpaca was nearby and neither man made a move to help Kobra who was limping and clearly feverish.

"What do you want?" Tiger Beatdown partially knew that Kobra Kid hadn't _really_ been responsible for the Killjoys betrayal of Party Poison and himself but he couldn't help but blame him a little bit. _It's just my heart telling me that someone needs to take the blame. I can't seem to pin it all on Phoenix Fury or the Dracs. Poison was right, Phoenix was doing what he thought was right, even if he was severely misguided. If Kobra Kid had come to me at the time, then I'd probably have believed his story too._

"Someone said something about Disco Bitch disappearing into the desert." Kobra whispered, leaning heavily against the decorated wall of Poison's home.

"Yeah, she's been taken by some spider thing." Alpaca spoke up for Tiger who seemed to not want to share any further information with Kobra Kid. "Look, I know whatever you did had to have been against your will. I mean, how long did we fight side by side with this scrawny fuck? Nothing Better Living Industries could offer him would make him betray his own brother. Hell, I've seen them do stupider shit for the other than I've seen from you Tiger Beatdown." Alpaca attempted to lighten the tense mood between the three of them to no avail.

"The Widow." Kobra grimaced and knew at once what he had to do to redeem himself. Tiger Beatdown didn't bother to speak, just looked at the ground. It clicked in Kobra's head in that instant. "You're going after her aren't you?"

"What does it matter to you?" Tiger finally spoke, disdain thick in his voice.

"I'm sorry for what I did. I couldn't control it. I'd gone into the desert to pick up a transmission from Death-iNation a few weeks ago and… I was ambushed. They didn't know I was Poison's brother until later. I didn't tell them anything until they made me. It was like… I couldn't control what was coming out of my mouth, I couldn't control what my hands were doing. I could see you all and hear you just fine but I couldn't do anything to warn you." Kobra's heart was pounding in his ears. If he could get these two men to believe him then perhaps all the torture he'd gone through could help a little bit and become worth it. "I'm not saying you shouldn't be mad at me, I'm just telling you how it happened."

"Sorry for not wanting to _hear_ what you have to say, Kobra Kid, but just the other day you were talking nonsense like some schizophrenic or something." Tiger Beatdown looked eagerly toward the exit, clearly wanting to go after Disco Bitch. _I'm wasting my time, they're wasting my time. Once I finally get rid of Kobra I still have to get rid of Alpaca. I don't have time for this! Disco Bitch doesn't have time for this!_

"Yeah, if you'd listen to me I might be able to explain that too. Eventually I couldn't hear or see what I was doing anymore. All I could see were fucking spiders and hear this voice in my head trying to tell me what to do! Whatever hold they had on me I was able to break myself free of it at some point but it was making me physically ill to do so. I'm not out of my head anymore, it's me. I'm here now! Ask me anything, please just tell me what I can do to prove to you that I am who I say I am because I want to help! Poison didn't want me to help, I don't know what's going on with him but if I can do anything to keep _this_ from happening to someone else then I will." Kobra turned his head to the side and coughed against his arm as if to give an example of the torture his body was still enduring. _Who knows if I'll ever get better? This fever seems to keep getting worse._

"Give him a chance to talk, Tiger." Alpaca whispered, hesitant to intervene. Tiger clearly didn't want anything to do with Kobra's advice but Alpaca had a feeling that whatever Kobra had to say, they needed to hear. _I don't know what it is, but my gut is telling me that Kobra Kid could help us find Disco Bitch._

"Fine, but hurry. I'm running out of time here." Tiger leaned against the wall next to Kobra and waited expectantly for the man to continue on with his story.

"The only reason Better Living Industries would risk taking more Killjoys to experiment on out in the desert is because they have to know they lost me. Whatever connection that spider woman had with me… It's gone now. She can't get in my head anymore like she used to. It was like… she had her fingers in my brain, telling me what to do like I was some kind of programmed computer or a puppet on her strings. It's hard to describe but… the only reason I can see for them risking revealing themselves right now is to replace me. If Disco disappeared in the eastern desert then I can almost guarantee you that they took her to try and do _this_ to her." Kobra acknowledged his frail looking body and pale skin. _Yeah, I was scrawny before this but now it's just unhealthy._

"You're saying that she's their next plant? Does Better Living Industries think that we'd really fall for that again?" Tiger Beatdown seemed skeptical that it could be pulled off again right under their noses.

"Why couldn't it be? How would you be able to tell until she starts losing her mind that she's anything other than what she was before she left?" Kobra Kid challenged. "I fooled my _brother_ when I was under their control. If I can fool him then I can guarantee that she could find a way to fool you, that's for damn sure. You haven't known her for more than a couple of weeks."

"He's got a point." Agent Alpaca adjusted his feet on the ground and crossed his arms over his chest. "If she got back here and told us she'd escaped, then how would we be able to tell if she'd been reprogrammed or not? Clearly if they can tell you what to do and make it sound convincing they could probably access all of the information she has inside of her head. We wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

"Not until she started losing her mind." Kobra repeated and continued on. "It's temporary, whatever torture this is. The spiders will come for her too and the voices. I don't know how this ends but if I can help her avoid whatever fate is going to befall me, then I think it's worth the risk _trusting_ me might provide."

"And what could you possibly do to help, huh?"

"I can take you there." Kobra sighed heavily, glad to finally offer some kind of help to his fellow Killjoys. For awhile there he didn't think anyone was going to listen to him. "I know where the facility in the desert is. I can lead you there and hopefully it won't be too late for Disco Bitch. If we're lucky we'll get her out of there and we can save her before whatever this is takes hold." Kobra Kid grimaced. Tiger Beatdown stayed silent for a long time. His options were obvious and neither one seemed incredibly appealing.

_If I send him back to Jet-Star and head out there without any guidance then I could just end up wandering the desert for days and waste everyone's time. It'd probably be the death of Disco Bitch just to wait that long to try and find her. On the other hand, if I trust Kobra Kid and that spider lady still has a hold on his mind he could be leading me into a trap and I could be the next victim. Though, if he actually does know where this facility is and he means what he says then I could break in and save Disco Bitch. If we get lucky, we could get in and try to find a cure for them both for this brainwashing. Is it worth the risk though? I could die in the process of this or end up being the next big betrayal. If they can control our minds like that then what hope is there that we could ever win this fight?_ There were so many options to consider that Tiger Beatdown could barely keep them straight in his head.

Agent Alpaca observed Kobra Kid as they awaited Tiger's answer. Personally, Alpaca believed the man. He had known him long enough to tell when he'd been sincere but knowing what he knew about the Widow or whatever Kobra had called the project in the desert, he wasn't sure if the sincerity was genuine or a product of the strings being pulled to control Kobra's actions. Perhaps it was because he'd been so wrong about Disco Bitch and her intentions that Alpaca was eager to show he was still capable of trust or perhaps it was just that sickening feeling in his gut that knew the same thing that happened to Kobra out in the desert was happening now to Disco and possibly because he'd planted the seeds of doubt in his friend's mind about their relationship.

"Okay. You can lead me into the desert. But we have to leave now." Tiger nodded his head. "We'll take Jet's old truck out into the sands. It still looks like a Better Living vehicle because he was too lazy to get it cleaned up and painted so it would buy us some time while we're out searching. You're sure that you know where this thing is?" Tiger finally decided it was worth the risk of being caught in the Widow's web to try and find Disco Bitch. If he ended up being tricked he'd do everything he could to prevent becoming a traitor even if it meant dying.

"Thank you. I know exactly where it is. I'm… not going to be much help with fighting though. I'll do everything I can if you can get me a gun but I'm weak and I can't feel my fingers anymore. I don't know what the side effects were with that shit they put into my lungs but I'm still getting worse. Well, as far as I can tell that is. I don't know how bad I really was while I was out of it. All I remember are the damn spiders." Kobra smiled weakly and moved away from the wall.

"Tiger, you should get him a gun. I know you don't trust him but he can't go out there unarmed and you…"

"Alpaca, I'm going. Don't try to make me feel selfish about doing this anymore. I have to go after her. You'd come after me if the situation was different. I know you weren't a fan of hers remotely, but she deserves better than this."

"I know." Alpaca slipped his arm underneath Kobra's and wrapped a supporting arm around his chest. It was clear that Kobra was having a hard time standing up straight, so he knew walking would be a chore if unaided. "And I'm coming with you."

"What?" Tiger looked surprised that his friend had volunteered to come with him. "You hated her for so long and now you're going to help me try to save her? Really?"

"Yeah, that about sums it up, doesn't it?" Alpaca started to lead Tiger Beatdown away from the wall of Poison's house.

"Why?" Tiger didn't move away from where he'd been standing, puzzled and suspicious of his friend's decision.

"Because you're my best friend and if you love her then she's family, despite how stupid I think this is. We'll find her. Plus, _someone_ has to keep you from doing stupid shit like following your heart right into Better Living's arms, right?" Alpaca smirked, looking at Tiger over his shoulder.

"I love you man." Tiger stepped away from the wall and slipped his arm underneath Kobra's other side, aiding the man with his walk.

"Sorry man, I think you're taken." Alpaca smirked, his attempt to lighten the mood finally being successful.

"I hate to interrupt this homoerotic moment you two are having." Kobra coughed and stumbled on his numbed toes. "But I just have one more serious thing to say before we basically drive to our deaths."

"What's that, Kobra?"

"Thank you for trusting me. I've never seen Party Poison that upset before and if this is the only way I can redeem myself then I am going to do it until my last breath."

"Don't talk like that man, you're going to come back here and Poison's going to see the good shit you did. He'll come around, trust me. He was shocked to find out it was you, that's all it was." Tiger smiled weakly. "I think he already knows the truth with what happened out there honestly…"

"I think he does too, which is why I'm not afraid to die out there in the desert with you." Kobra smiled for the first time since they'd seen him come to his senses in the infirmary the day prior.

"Well, I appreciate you offering to help in your condition." Tiger still wasn't sure that Kobra Kid was being honest about what he'd seen out in the desert, or if he was leading them into a trap but he'd decided to trust the man. Without trust, the Killjoys would be nothing.

"Okay, back to whatever moment you two were having." Kobra coughed. "Wait, one more question."

"What's that?"

"Is my brother chasing some skirt into the City?" The group laughed and though they were about to drive into untold danger, it felt damn good.


	31. Therapy

A small trickle of red against his pale white skin only made paler by the loss of blood he'd undergone in the last hour, crept down his forehead slowly, slowed by a mess of black hair. _Has it only been an hour? I've lost all concept of time in here._ Vengeful Venom wished he could lift up his arms to wipe the creeping trickle from his forehead before it sneaked any further down and into his eyes. Initially Venom had intended upon pretending to play weaker than he was so he would have strength left after his beating to escape from whatever facility he was being held in, but lying face down on the floor, blood dripping from his lips, missing a molar, and sure he had at least a few cracked ribs, Vengeful Venom was no longer pretending to be too weak to fight. Even the small effort of moving his hand up to wipe that lone trickle of blood from the new wound on his forehead sounded like torture.

The fluorescent lights of the room buzzed, distracting him from the pain momentarily. _I learned the first time that thinking of anything other than the pain can keep it at bay until it's overwhelming and cannot be ignored._ Holding his breath, Venom listened to the sound of heels on the floor, circling around him like a vulture. He stared at the leather shoes that stopped in front of his line of vision. The owner of the shoes leaned down to a crouch. Gloved hands clasped together and a small satisfied laugh slipped from Obliterator's lips.

His gloves were slimy and warm, covered in Vengeful Venom's blood as they grasped onto his chin and pulled him easily half off of the ground, high enough up to be able to look into Obliterator's soulless gray eyes without the man having to lean down from his crouched position.

"It's a shame really. I read your file. You were _quite_ the Drac in your day. Not that I particularly _care_ for Better Living Industries or their cause." Leaning close so he could whisper in his ear, Obliterator dug his fingers hard into Venom's face. Wincing, Venom tried to ignore the increasing pressure on his jaw. "What's _really_ a damn shame is that I can't spill your innards on the pristine floor right now. Can you imagine it?" With one simple twist, Obliterator rolled Vengeful Venom onto his back and returned to his full height. Head swimming from the force of being turned so quickly, Venom forced his vision to stay focused on the man who'd been dishing out his torture.

The sound of the blade being removed from Obliterator's cane was torturous to Venom's ears. The sound had become something he'd dread. Caked with half dry blood, the blade smelled foul and filthy. The tip of the blade touched his navel through his shirt and slowly traced up the front of his body.

"I could split you… navel to navel and watch… as your insides spill out all over the white tile beneath you." Obliterator turned his head to the side, the sword traveling over Venom's chest and ending at his throat, digging into the skin just below his chin. "…you'd be alive through every second of it you know." There was no smile, no grin, no emotion on his face but a grim satisfaction shining through his dark eyes. Venom decided not to speak, it wasn't worth another wound and instead he merely coughed, blood dripping down his lips, splashing on his face. Cracked ribs were doing a number on how it felt to breathe. Each inward breath was agonizingly slow and painful and so was the outward one that followed.

The sound of the sword slipping back into its cane sheath gave Venom the chills but he refused to show it on the floor, merely stifling another painful cough. Instinct was telling him to bring his hands to his chest to try and offer some relief to the pain or at least assess the damage done but he knew moving would only instigate his attacker to do worse.

"Oh well." Obliterator heaved a heavy sigh and turned on his heels, toward the door. "We'll have more time together later, you know. Don't think we're finished here. Listen to every sound around you and think, wonder… every footstep, every creak could be the doorknob turning and I'll be coming back through that door with Korse to continue where we left off. Hopefully _next_ time you'll fight like a man on your feet and less like a dog on your knees." The door closed behind Obliterator and the room returned to the darkness it had once been when he'd woken up in it to find himself strapped to a chair and face to face with Korse.

_Has he really left me alone? He left me without binding me or gagging me? He left me without locking the damn door? Is he really that confident that I'm down for the count? Not as smart as he made himself out to be, is he?_ Vengeful Venom wasn't positive about the door being unlocked, but in the grand scheme of things half of his obstacles had been removed by Obliterator's attacks. The chair had been destroyed and left around the room in pieces and Venom could hear him walking off somewhere to the left and opening another door that creaked loudly. There was no sound of the door closing behind Obliterator but Venom wasn't going to wait to be sure that the man was out of sight. He'd risk running from him if he had to.

Slowly getting off of the floor Venom stifled any sounds of discomfort and pain, swallowing them down with a deep breath. _Don't make any sounds; don't breathe if you don't have to. Who knows if they have sonic hearing or any of that bullshit? _Something told Vengeful Venom that the triplets didn't actually care if he got away or stayed or either. It sounded to him like they worked for their own means and not for Better Living Industries. At least Obliterator made it sound like that when he'd been taunting Venom. There had to be a reason they were following Korse's orders, but Venom had no idea what it was. _Maybe Obliterator resents having to follow Better Living's orders? Maybe BLI has something on them that I'm not seeing, that none of us have figured out yet. I could be way off base, of course, but I have a feeling there's so much more they're not telling me. _

On his feet, it took Venom a few moments to be able to stand straight without feeling dizzy and nauseated by the pain he was suffering. His fingers were throbbing and though he couldn't be sure since he knew shit about medicine, he was sure a few of them were sprained or broken. The pain was immense but he could still bend them and would do so for as long as they allowed him to. Surely, it was a stupid idea to continue using them in such a condition but he couldn't afford to give up any of his fingers in the next few hours simply because they were sore. Dealing with the damage that Obliterator had done to him would have to wait until he'd done what he promised Rainbow Riot he would do.

The darkness didn't frighten him anymore, not after the pain he'd gone through to get to this point. Plus, when he'd been fighting with Obliterator, scratch that- when he'd been getting his ass handed to him by Obliterator he'd managed to get a comfortable feel of the room. Finding the spots where he was able to push off some of the pressure and hurt onto the walls had been easy enough when he'd been repeatedly attacked by someone who was a thousand times stronger than him on a bad day. Venom easily approached the door and groped for the doorknob, finding it quickly. Contemplating leaving was easy enough but actually turning the knob to go was another thing entirely.

A sharp intake of breathe spiked his heart rate with the pain that it created in his rib cage. _Distractions, I need a distraction. I can't go out there unarmed, that would be fucking stupid._ Considering the fight that he'd just been in and the beating he'd taken he felt incredibly lucky to be able to stand and walk properly. It was pure luck that none of his bones in his arms or legs had been broken and that he hadn't been wounded severely enough to fall unconscious. Either of those things could've happened so simply during the hour long torture but they hadn't and he could walk and manage doors just fine.

Venom walked to the other end of the room and knelt carefully down. Groping on the floor he managed to find one of the legs of the broken metallic chair that he'd once sat in and grabbed it between his sore and now swollen fingers. _One of them is definitely broken, it's not listening to me anymore._ His middle finger wouldn't bend properly and he wondered if it was bleeding as severely as he guessed it was. It didn't matter now. He had a weapon and he had the means to escape and he was going to do his best to get out with something that could give him the upper hand. There had to be files somewhere in the building that would help him figure out how to destroy the special projects Better Living Industries had created.

While he was at it, he figured he'd look for information on the Widow he'd heard about as well as Korse. There was no reason he shouldn't aspire to kill them all at some point. This time he'd make sure that whatever remained of their bodies would be burned to a crisp so there would be nothing left for Better Living Industries to reanimate after the Killjoys had gotten rid of them. After all, Korse had once been dead and here he was, a bigger menace to them all than he had ever been living.

Slowly Venom wrapped his fingers once again around the doorknob to the room now splattered in his blood. Why Better Living Industries always had white walls, he never guessed. _I guess they use a lot of bleach or something. Random thought, but I feel like I'm always making a mess in here and there's never any sign of mess until I've made one._ Half expecting the hallway to be flooded with light, Venom was surprised to find it dim and gray. The walls were concrete, not even matte paint on them to cover up the dripping rust colored stains coming from the ceiling above. Venom guessed they were underground by the looks of it. The hallway reminded him much of an unfinished basement. Perhaps this was a newer facility and Better Living Industries hadn't had the chance to sterilize every part of it yet.

Holding the chair leg in his hand for dear life, Venom crept down the hall noiselessly toward the room he was sure that Obliterator had gone into. Each door had a big latch on the outside of it and if he could close the door and close the latch it could buy him some time to escape without Obliterator even being aware that he was trapped. Heart beating louder than anything else, Venom grabbed the latch and slowly pushed it to the wall, his heart thudding harder with every squeak of the hinge. _He's going to push it open in my face and knock me back any second now, I know it._ The seconds passed by agonizingly slow but still no one emerged from the door to contest his actions. Finally he closed the latch entirely and removed his hand. Staring at the door as though it were going to explode at any moment, Venom sat still and pondered what he'd just done.

_I can't be sure that Obliterator is even in there but I have this feeling that he is and it's enough for me to trust it._ Venom had decent luck thus far and he didn't intend on pushing it. He'd found embracing his good fortune brought better results than pushing it and testing to see how far it'd take him. If this was his only chance to get the hell out of this building he was going to take it. Slowly he walked down the hall, careful of the sound of his boots on the concrete floor, contemplating taking them off for a moment but realizing if he had to run away or escape in a hurry it would be a stupid decision in case he stepped on something sharp or had to jump a great distance. He'd risk making the soft footfalls he was making now just in case.

At the end of the hall was a door, presumably leading to stairs. Checking the perimeter of the door to make sure he wouldn't trigger any alarms on this side of it, he slowly opened it, pulling on the large black handle on the right side. It creaked louder than he expected and instead of freezing, Venom simply moved faster. The slower he moved something that made a loud noise the longer the noise would continue on. Looking around, surprised not to find a stairwell, Venom stared in awe at the mess of computers and filing cabinets around the room. _This isn't like the usual organized and meticulous Better Living Industries, what is this place?_ Venom scanned the room for an exit and found one on the other side.

Perhaps it was a ground level building he'd found but he had been convinced it was a basement. _If they're not as concerned with appearances as they used to be, that could mean some nasty things for the Killjoys. If they're not predictable anymore, it's going to be a pretty big blow. But by the looks of it, it seems as though this was all set up in a very hasty manner. Like whoever did it was afraid of sticking around long enough to make it pretty._ Venom habitually scanned through files, used to doing so after he'd gone through the computer in the theater. Sure, he could have just walked out of the room. It would've been his perfect opportunity to escape, but he'd done that once before in his past when he'd left the younger versions of Instigator Obliterator and Destroyer to live on and become the monsters they were now and it had been the biggest regret of his life. There was no way he was going to let something like that happen again to him or anyone else.

Glancing at the bottom of the filing cabinet, Venom reached for the drawer and tugged, blood dripping onto the concrete floor beneath him. Looking back toward the now closed door, Venom realized he'd left a trail of blood all along where he'd walked. At least he'd moved in nonsensical directions to throw any pursuers off of his trail even if it had been on accident. Venom smeared the blood from his hand down his arm, hoping the source would follow that path in and bleed into his clothing rather than drip onto the ground any further.

Inside of the cabinet Venom found a wealth of files, all with names he didn't recognize. Flipping through the front pages of each folder within the cabinet, he found that most of the ones he pulled were failed experiments, marked with large red letters across the pictures at the very front of the file as such. Wondering if the successful experiments were further inside, Venom continued digging.

Finally at the very end were three files, larger than the others labeled Irene, Oliver, and Daniel. Holding his breath, Venom knew what the files were. He'd always thought the codenames were to be clever and to instill fear, but now he knew they were altered versions of their original names. They'd been orphans once and even when he'd left the Dracs they had still been young. His guess was their age had been accelerated as they got older so they looked as mature as they did now.

_They had seemed so innocent back then when they were lying in those testing tubes with all those wires hooked up to them. I didn't even know that they were capable of such evil things or what they would become. The only reason I had even considered letting them go in the first place was because I felt bad for them. I knew what it was like to be a lab rat and I knew those kids hadn't asked for any of it. I didn't have the time or I would've overhauled the computer and they would have died. I learned a few years later what the letters on their tanks had stood for and was horrified I'd walked away from that without taking any action_.

Vengeful Venom knew that there was no way he could have possibly known that those three would become the monsters they had become over the years, but knowing that he'd done nothing about even those three kids suffering down in the basement cells of Better Living Industries was enough to give Venom guilt ridden nightmares. After seeing Obliterator in action he knew that not setting those kids free had been the worst mistake of his life. How many had he condemned to death over the years at the hands of those three unstable experiments? Not to mention, the lives of those three kids. Now their souls were trapped in those lifeless bodies doing the bidding of someone else.

_My head won't stop spinning._ The blood that Venom had been dripping from the various wounds on his body left by Obliterator was starting to get to him. He was feeling ill and exhausted. Something inside of him knew he couldn't linger within the building much longer or he'd pass out and be right back where he started. Grabbing the files out of the cabinet, Venom stood up and took a second to fight the wave of nausea that crept over him as he righted himself. He closed the cabinet and wiped the blood off of the floor the best he could in hopes of obscuring his trail a bit then started through the door at the other end of the room.

He'd intended to find information on the other projects as well but they weren't his main goal so he didn't feel obligated to get them. _I came for information on how to destroy the IOD project, starting there is good. Once I've helped the Killjoys get rid of them then we can work on Korse and Widow._ Venom peeked out the door, checking to see if the coast was clear. He wasn't sure how he was going to get past any Dracs standing guard and knew he wasn't lucky enough to avoid them entirely.

Glancing back into the room he'd planned on leaving, he saw a lab coat hanging on the back of a chair in front of a computer. If he could clean his face up enough and hide his hand maybe he could pass as a Drac again. _It would only have to work for a little while. If I can just get out of here and hide... _The thought drifted from his mind as he painfully slipped on the lab coat and did his best to hide the blood and wounds on his body. Being very little he could do about the wound on his forehead, Venom wiped it the best he could and hung his head low, pretending to read through the files he'd just stolen. It was a stupid plan, a pathetic plan and there was no way that it could work.

Halfway down the hallway a siren went off accompanied with warning lights, illuminating every few feet with a red and white flashing glow from overhead. _Time to go._ Venom wasn't going to waste any time now. He had to run. If they were going to lock down the facility he had to make a break for it. Clearly someone had been alerted that he'd escaped and hit the alarm. The door at the end of the long hallway opened up and a group of armed Dracs stormed in. Venom leaned against the wall, petrified this was the end for him, closing his eyes in anticipation of the laser blow that was sure to come. The sound of marching feet went past him and after he was sure he hadn't been shot he opened one eye and peered around.

The door he'd come from had slammed closed and the armed Dracs had crept deeper into the facility. Perhaps he'd been _wrong_ about the sirens and they hadn't been in regards to him after all. Surely those in charge of the facility, if reporting a missing person, would include physical description of the person who was missing. Of course, if they were looking for someone who looked out of place, the bleeding head wound and bloodied lab coat would have likely given him away as well. _Though it worries me that it didn't. What the hell goes on down here? Why is this place so fucking creepy? Why is it that no one seemed on alert by the man covered in blood standing in the hallway?_ Vengeful Venom wasn't going to stick around to find out why bloodied lab coats and head wounds were acceptable.

Whatever emergency was happening on the floor below was more important than some stranger walking amongst the facility so Venom took this chance and ran as fast as he could, up a flight of stairs and through several hallways, having to backtrack three times to find his way to the front door. Running down the street and around the corner he finally found an alleyway far enough from the facility he felt it safe to hide in. If he could just sit behind the trashcan and hide for a little while he would be in the clear. Now that he was leaning against the metallic trashcan and brick building his head was throbbing.

The panic and fear he'd felt while running out of the building was leaving him and exhaustion and pain were making their way to him at last. He placed the file folders beneath him and sat securely on top of them just in case he fell asleep and someone searched him. _Closing my eyes is a terrible idea but the world won't stop spinning and I think throwing up is a worse idea than sleeping._ With every intention of opening his eyes a few moments later to wrap up his wounds and to assess the damage done to his body, Venom closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath.

Before he knew it, he'd passed out in the alleyway behind the trashcan, hidden in the darkness of the building surrounding him and hatching the files that he'd stolen from the facility where he'd been held hostage. The shock of what had happened had finally worn off and given way to pain, exhaustion and fear.

* * *

><p>Each droplet of hot water from the showerhead beat against her bruises in a satisfying way. It'd been so long since she'd had a hot shower that Fire Frenzy found herself standing underneath the water far longer than she needed to. There was something soothing about the hot water, something cleansing, and though it stung at her wounds the longer she stood beneath its spray she felt comforted and rejuvenated. As the water began to run cold Frenzy stepped out of the shower and dried off. Wrapping the towel around her even felt comforting in some strange way and though she knew she'd have to wrap her wounds back up before getting dressed, for the first time in a very long time, Frenzy felt level headed.<p>

Maybe it was the fact that she finally had the proper amount of drugs in her systems, or maybe it was because she finally had a plan to take down Better Living Industries and it seemed as though it would come to fruition fairly soon but either way she felt completely clear headed. Glancing around the room, Frenzy listened but there was nothing but the sound of what her new strange companion was doing outside of the room. Usually her mind would take a time like this and fill it with doubt or taunting, but right now the other her inside of her head had nothing to say. _Perhaps I've finally found the right amount of drugs in my system to knock it out of me. What a relief that would be, no second guessing, no doubt, no nagging constant guilt._

The door burst open and Marilyn hurried in, a towel hanging over her arm. Frenzy looked at her expectantly as if to ask what the hell she was doing in there without knocking. Holding out a short reddish-orange nightgown, Marilyn suddenly seemed to realize what she had done was inappropriate.

"Sorry!" An apologetic smile spread across her face. "I'm not used to living with another girl. Usually it's just me and Nation and well…" Her words drifted off into her implication of the relationship the two shared. Fire Frenzy shrugged in response then acknowledged the nightgown in the woman's hand with a nod. _I'm not shy and I have very little shame, looks like she's more embarrassed than I am. Weird, a prostitute embarrassed about walking in on another woman half dressed. Or maybe I'm intimidating. I can never tell. Sure, when I'm out of my mind maybe but I'm five foot nothing so I find it hard to think that I look particularly scary, especially half nude._ Marilyn looked confused for a moment then held the dress out further for Frenzy to take from her.

"Take it! The rest of your stuff was caked in blood so I washed it. It's drying now but I figured it'd be less awkward for you to be sitting around in one of my dresses than it would be you know… naked in a towel." The woman's friendly smile returned and all hints of embarrassment and confusion disappeared. "I'll let you get dressed and then perhaps you would join me for a cup of coffee while we wait for Nation to come back! You do drink coffee right?"

"I don't need it. Thanks." Frenzy looked expectantly toward the door, waiting for Marilyn to leave her in peace so she could get into the nightgown she had been loaned.

"I'm sure you haven't had an adequate meal in a long time. Death-iNation said you hadn't eaten when you woke up, even a cup of coffee is better in your stomach than nothing at all. Even though coffee tends to make my stomach sick… though I heard it's all about how you drink it!"

"If I take the cup of coffee will you leave so that I can get changed?" Marilyn's cheeks turned pink again upon realizing she'd overstayed her welcome in the bathroom.

"Oh yes! Of course, sorry! This… this whole thing with the Killjoys has me a bit flustered, I'm afraid. Plus, watching you out there in that alleyway with the man I brought outside then hearing what Rocky and Nation did to him after we left…" Shifting the weight on her feet, Frenzy cocked one eyebrow up curiously at Marilyn as she rambled on. _This girl sure likes to talk. Of course she does, most people like to talk Frenzy. Yeah, except for me. That's right, no one understands you. Don't mock me you son of a bitch, that's not how it is and you know it! That's right, you just think everyone else is a waste of time. Though what was that red-head all about then, hmm? You didn't seem to think he was a waste of time. Holy shit, I didn't miss you guys._

Marilyn had stopped talking and was instead watching Fire Frenzy curiously now. The girl had been there in one moment and then disappeared completely. Not physically of course, but for a few fleeting moments she thought she'd been having a real conversation with her. _Perhaps that's why I kept rambling on and on, it was easy to talk to her. _Then all at once the girl had disappeared into her own head and Marilyn was suddenly wondering if she was suffering some kind of mental break. _After all she's been through I can't blame her, I could barely handle watching half of what she did outside! I have no idea what happened before we met, but whatever gave her those wounds covering her body must have been harrowing!_

"I'll leave you to get dressed. I hope you like that nightgown. I noticed you liked fiery colors so I figured orange and red was perfect right?" Finally the door to the bathroom closed as Marilyn left and Frenzy was able to shed her towel and pull the nightgown on over her head. The soft material felt good on her skin, better than the rough corset and vinyl she usually wore, but at the same time it offered very little protection. Taking a step to the bathroom door reminded her that her wounds needed to be covered, her left leg nearly buckling beneath her weight. Glancing down at it, she saw she had washed the pus and infection away from the freshest carving on her leg but it still needed tending to.

Slowly Frenzy walked out of the bathroom and sat down on the bed she'd woken up in earlier that day. It seemed like a lifetime ago to her now that she had been waking up, terrified that she'd been taken hostage by some insane person. _Not terrified. Oh shut up, you were terrified. Someone's hostile._ Why did it seem like the closer she got to her goal, the thoughts in her head grew angrier and more frantic?

"Oh you're quick!" Marilyn Deathrow smiled, hurrying into the room with a tray in her hands. Sitting down on the bed next to Fire Frenzy, crossing her legs she pointed to a little Better Living Industries coffee mug. "I didn't know how you take your coffee so I left it black but brought in some cream and sugar in case you didn't like it that way. I like it light and sweet myself. Nation always teases me about it, asking if I'd like some coffee with my sugar but I can't help it! It's too bitter without it and I don't enjoy it. So maybe I don't like coffee, apparently I like coffee flavored sweet milk."

"Black is fine." Frenzy didn't pick up the cup but instead got back up from the bed in search of first aid supplies. Picking up her own cup, Marilyn took a long sip and observed Fire Frenzy's actions curiously.

"I don't know how you can stand to drink it straight like that. It tastes like death to me. Like honestly, if a corpse had a flavor? It would be black coffee." Marilyn chuckled, her attempts to make conversation failing horribly it seemed. She wasn't one to give up on something though. It was rare she got to talk to other women in her profession. Most of the others she met were either prostitutes or angry with her for doing something rather naughty with their loved ones. Not responding, Frenzy continued looking around the bedroom for first aid. Nation had wrapped up her wounds earlier, surely there had to be some kind of kit somewhere. "Are you looking for something? I could help you know, seeing as I practically live here ninety percent of the time."

Again, not responding vocally, Frenzy pointed to the scarring on her left leg. Marilyn held up a finger and walked into the bathroom. From underneath the sink she pulled a large first aid kit. Carrying it into the bedroom she set it down on the bed and opened it for Fire Frenzy. The shorter girl sat down on the bed and started to clean up the wounds on her leg. They weren't bleeding anymore, but antiseptic couldn't do any harm at this point. Watching her expectantly, Marilyn waited for the woman to attempt to strike up a conversation but it never happened. Unable to stand looking at the wounds on the girl any longer, Marilyn broke the awkward silence with more awkward conversation.

"So what the hell made you run into the City like that and cause such a mess? The news says you blew up the theater on the east end, but you had no idea about that when Rocky mentioned it. What I'm curious of is why they would accuse _you_ in the first place. You must have done something to piss them off, that's for sure." Hesitating, Fire Frenzy thought about telling the girl to shut the hell up and let her wrap her damn wounds but she reconsidered. _She made you coffee, cleaned your clothes, found you a first aid kit and has been nothing but nice to you. Learn some manners for once, Frenzy. At least don't completely ignore the poor girl who is obviously dying for some female companionship._

"I was looking for someone in the theater on the east end. I don't like being seen by Better Living Industries so I had to break into the City." Frenzy didn't quite lie, but she didn't tell the truth either.

"That place is nasty. How did this someone you were looking for get mixed up with Better Living Industries like that in the first place? I mean, I know that sometimes the Killjoys go looking for trouble but they usually don't run headlong into something_ that_ nasty without back up. Your friend must not be very smart or asking to be killed."

"I'm not a Killjoy. And it wasn't a friend that I was looking for, it was just someone." Frenzy simply answered, trying to give as little information as she could without sounding entirely rude.

"Well, this person must be lucky you came for them, then. Or is this the little girl you were talking about before? The one that you said you had to find."

"No, she was just caught in the crossfire, sadly." Marilyn could tell by Frenzy's low tone that she did not want to talk about the little girl Frenzy had decided to search for but was surprised to receive further explanation unprovoked. "I owe her. She saved my ass so I can't leave her to what I know Better Living Industries will do to her."

"Very noble of you." Marilyn took another sip of her coffee then made a face of distaste before adding another spoonful of sugar to the mixture in the mug. "How'd you find out the theater wasn't a theater?"

"I stole Nation's letters from Party Poison. Plus, we overheard some people from Better Living Industries while we were in the first zone talking about some experiment fucking up there." Being honest was the best policy in this situation. Fire Frenzy had nothing to hide at this point and Marilyn Deathrow seemed harmless enough in this situation so she wasn't worried about revealing too much of her plan.

"Party Poison? Ugh, that chauvinistic asshole?" Marilyn muttered under her breath. _All that and she went with the Party Poison aspect of this huh? Interesting._ Frenzy continued wrapping up her wounds, still ignoring the coffee that had been graciously poured for her. "Fucker used to come to me all the time before he realized he could hook just about any girl in the zones after a couple of drinks with that stupid smile of his! Naturally he didn't come back to _me_ because he never _paid_ me and insists he doesn't have to." Marilyn rolled her eyes and continued on her rant. Clearly it bothered her quite a bit that Poison had never given her what she was owed. "We discussed payment up front even! A pack of smokes, and I was cutting him a deal! He was even rough with me after I'd already _consented_. Drunk bastard." Marilyn continued muttering about Poison and her distaste with him under her breath.

"That sounds like him. Stubborn pain in the ass. Good riddance." Finally Frenzy picked up the coffee cup and took a sip of the hot bitter liquid. _I haven't had a cup of coffee in a long time. I forgot how good it is._

"What were you doing working with him if you're not a Killjoy? He's like… head honcho of the Killjoys. It seems weird for you to be with him unless he picked _you_ up in a bar too, but for some reason I'm doubting that you let that happen." Marilyn smiled, still curious of the whole situation. _At least she's talking now and not looking at me like I'm an alien speaking in a foreign language. She doesn't seem as crazy as she did a few minutes ago either. I wonder what's wrong with her._

"It's a long story. He stole something from me in a bar and I went after him to get it back so… I got dragged into this whole crazy rebellion thing on accident."

"You were a part of the rebellion? Wait, you told Zeppelin out there to tell the people in the eastern camp that you sent them. You must be friendly with the Killjoys out there at the very least for them to recognize your name."

"I helped them out of a sticky situation, that's it. I have credibility now because of it." Frenzy was finishing with her wounds and was relieved to be doing so. Every part of her felt like it was throbbing uncomfortably now that it'd been properly cleaned and cared for. "I don't care for the Killjoys in general. I believe in what they do, of course but they're a pompous organization and go about things the wrong way and in an often childish manner that I don't have the energy for."

"Then why did you help them? Did Party Poison pay you to work for him? The news said you were a notorious arms dealer." Marilyn pulled both legs beneath her, on the bed enjoying her girl talk.

"No, he didn't pay me. He probably _should_ have paid me though." _But that would mean you would have to see him again and we've already decided that his hazel eyes weren't worth it right? Shut up. We're not thinking about him right now. Really? Because for someone who isn't thinking about him you sure are talking about him an awful lot. Marilyn asked me about him. That's the only reason. It's not like I want to talk him, we're just having a conversation._

"Then why did you help them if it wasn't for money?"

"I told you why, because he stole something from me and I got caught up in it."

"He stole from you so you_ helped_ him. That just doesn't make sense, Frenzy even for you. I know you've got this whole," Marilyn wasn't sure what word she should use to reference Frenzy's awkwardness and instead gestured to her as a whole, "thing going on but you're rational from what I've seen. You wouldn't help him if he stole from you." _Why did you help him Frenzy? Do you even remember?_

"He asked me to help him."

"So he just said pretty please, batted his eyelashes and you said yes? Are you _sure_ he didn't pick you up in a bar and take you home beforehand?" Marilyn chuckled. _Finally, this is becoming fun for me._ _Maybe she's not as awkward as I figured._

"It's not as easy as that either." Frenzy perked up and widened her eyes in realization. "He said he'd pay me that fucker, he didn't! I forgot… it feels like so fucking long ago now and so much was going on..."

"He stiffed you too? What the hell! At least I got laid." Marilyn joked, as though this would be some kind of treat given her occupation. "I don't strike you as the type to leave without getting paid. Why would you leave without payment?"

"I had to get away, that's all. It slipped my mind. Money was the least important thing at that point."

"How could it slip your mind though? If you hate the Killjoys so much then you must have been clinging to the idea of that payment to get you through your time with them unless there was something far more tantalizing keeping you sticking around." Marilyn implied an illicit affair rather than outright accused Frenzy of having one.

"I had more important things to do than to play their game." _Besides when I'm done, I won't need their money. Money doesn't matter anymore. It did when I was trying to find my way here, but now I'm here and it would've just gone to waste anyway._

"What could possibly be more important in this day and age?"

"Would you just drop it, already? Some things _are_ none of your business." Frenzy sighed in frustration. Marilyn either didn't hear Frenzy's request or didn't care that she had made it.

"It sounds like you were _running_ from something rather than going for something more important."

"I wasn't running from Party Poison. That's absurd. Fucking red-headed idiot, there's nothing to be afraid of there. I could've killed him multiple times, the bastard is luckier than anyone I've ever fucking met."

"Oh but I never said you were running from _Party Poison_, I said _something_. You could've been running from something else!" Marilyn pointed a finger at her excitedly, catching her in her twisted up words. "Oh you _like_ him! I see what's happening here! You were afraid you were _falling_ for him weren't you? That's why he irritates you so much, he makes you_ feel _something! And you don't _like_ to feel _anything_ do you?" Marilyn made several bold accusations all at once. Anyone else and Frenzy would've shot her dead but she remembered how the woman had calmed her, the kind things she'd done in the last few hours and resisted. _I would've never found out where I'm supposed to go after this if she hadn't helped. Certainly that pilot would've been useless to me without some kind of sexual favor and Nation tries to be useful but he had nothing else to offer me outside of his contacts._

"What?" Frenzy stared and then shook her head adamantly. "I misinterpreted what you had said, that's all! We were talking about Party Poison so I was assuming he was what you meant! He has _nothing_ to offer me anyway so why the hell would I possibly run from him?"

"Oh come on, you're in denial now." Marilyn grinned successfully. "Leader of the Killjoys, lead singer of the Mad Gear and Missile Kid, strong jaw, adorable smile, sweet hazel eyes and not to mention that ass." Giggling as she spoke Marilyn bounced softly on the bed. _I'd forgotten what it was like to be a friend to someone, not just a lover or a professional. This is nice, though I'm not sure Frenzy is enjoying it at all._

"I didn't say he had nothing to offer, I said he had nothing to offer to _me_." Frenzy sighed heavily as she continued the conversation.

"So he liked _you _then, is it and you told him no and it made things awkward? I bet he _hated_ that and just kept at you right? I don't know, that could go either way. Poison likes easy targets, from what I'm told. Considering he never even paid me a pack of fucking cigarettes, I would call him lazy at the very best." Marilyn tried to put the pieces together with the very little bit of information she had gotten out of Fire Frenzy. Watching Frenzy slump her shoulders and drink her coffee she thought she saw something _sad_ inside the woman. _Well, besides that whole loner, homicidal air she gives off, I mean._

"Can we not talk about this? Please?"

"What else is there to talk about though?" Marilyn smiled pleasantly, hoping she could encourage Fire Frenzy to feel something other than pain and regret. "Oh come on, it's natural to like him. He's a good looking, sexy guy! You're not the first girl to give into his charms." Reaching into the drawer on the left side of the bed, Marilyn pulled out a box of beads and decided to be productive while they talked.

"He had to _pay_ you to be with him." Frenzy repeated the facts.

"Yeah but I would've done it for free if he had been nice enough to me. He offered payment before he realized he could charm the pants off of any girl in the zones. It's being sober that did it I think. When he was a drunk dumb-fuck he didn't have any confidence in himself which is why he paid me, I think."

"There's _nothing_ to discuss, okay? I don't want to talk about this with you because it's a circular conversation. You bring something up about him, I deny it and it continues."

"Fine, fine." Marilyn smiled, taking a long drink of her coffee and tapping her bare foot against the edge of the bed. When Frenzy made no effort to continue conversing, Marilyn said the only thing that could come to mind. "…at least he's a good lay, am I right?"

"Ugh…" Frenzy mentally deflated as she groaned in disapproval. _This girl does not know how to drop it. It sounds like she's looking for a good bit of gossip. She's going to be sorely disappointed._

"He's a little rough, but he's fun! It was always a good time with him." Not looking up from the beads she was now stringing together she continued speaking as though this was normal every day conversation. Frenzy realized she'd seen a strand of the same beads around Poison's wrist several times. Maybe Marilyn had made the beads everyone was wearing in the zones.

"I wouldn't know, we _didn't_ sleep together because I _didn't_ give into him because there is _nothing_ going on."

"But he tried, right?" Marilyn grinned, enjoying the fact that she could sneak answers out of this woman without asking the appropriate questions. "He must have _really_ liked you to try so hard and _not_ sleep with you."

"There's nothing to this, Marilyn because I didn't _let_ him get that close to me." Frenzy placed her hand to her forehead, feeling it starting to ache from the stress of the conversation. _Liar. You let him close and you would have let him have you too if he hadn't been the one to pull away. Even he thought you were too broken, this man who apparently would sleep with anything willing to spread its legs_. Suddenly feeling guilty for pushing the woman, Marilyn tried to enjoy tormenting her a little less. Maybe if she pushed enough she'd offer her some kind of catharsis instead of just taunting.

"You must have liked him too for you to have stuck around through all of that chaos and to help him out without abandoning him." Marilyn offered a kind smile.

"I _did_ abandon him, remember? I'm _here_ in the City, not out there with him so your whole crackpot theory about the two of us is ridiculous."

"But you left for the wrong reasons, I can tell!" Marilyn scoffed, not a mocking laugh this time but more of a condescending one.

"Marilyn, drop it!" Frenzy got up and started to pace, looking for anything to distract from the topic at hand. "Are these books yours?"

"Yes, they are. Nation got them for me from the confiscated building at Better Living Industries. You know, it's okay to be scared of _liking_ someone, but running away doesn't help the situation. All it's going to do is make you both miserable."

"Can I borrow this one?" Frenzy held up the HG Wells book she'd been investigating earlier in the day and hoped it would interest her enough to shut her up.

"That one is my favorite, but yes you can as long as you bring it back."

"Thanks." A sigh of relief escaped Frenzy's lips as she flipped through the book, thinking she'd managed to finally escape the conversation.

"You know… it's unhealthy to avoid your emotions the way you seem so desperate to." Marilyn pushed onward. _She doesn't think she can get me to stop that easily, does she?_ "Eventually you're going to forget how to feel entirely, the way you forgot your name." Frenzy looked at her skeptically, not believing she dared to continue on this topic of conversation. "Not that I'm healthy by any stretch of the word. But what would I know? I'm just a seventeen year old prostitute."

"It's not unhealthy because there _are no emotions to avoid._" Fire Frenzy widened her eyes in frustration. _I'm about two seconds from finding my gun and blowing her fucking head off. Then why aren't you going for your gun? Face it, you are thrilled someone took interest in you. You're thrilled someone else can see what happened with Poison and it's not all in your head. Shut the fuck up, I'm not, you're all out of your mind._

"You know, these are the most dangerous of days Fire Frenzy. Life is too short out here for you to waste time being in _like_ with somebody. We're all dying out here and should find and embrace love before our time is up. Even the craziest of us deserve it."

"Is that what's happening with you and Death-iNation? You two are embracing love before it's too late while you fuck for money?" Frenzy spat, her lip curled half in a snarl. Marilyn immediately averted her eyes, glancing down at the bed. Her fingers brushed against the sheets she'd spent so many nights tangled in with Death-iNation. _I did tell him I love him. I told him while we laid together on this bed and he didn't say it back to me. I haven't tried to say it since. Clearly he doesn't know how to tell me or if it's right to tell me. I think the fact that I'm underage bothers him. Life is too short! I'll have to try again after we've helped Frenzy._

"Nation is my client, nothing more." Marilyn defended her position against Frenzy. Of course, she wouldn't have minded telling the girl the true story behind it but currently she was more fascinated with what was happening between Frenzy and Poison. "You and Party Poison are just avoiding the obvious because neither one of you wants to lose in this sick competition the two of you apparently have going on. Who can be the hardest and biggest mother fucker in the zones, I'm guessing." Setting down the bracelet she'd been working on, Marilyn watched Fire Frenzy's reactions curiously.

"You have _no_ idea what you're talking about Marilyn. There are for more important things to talk about here than fucking Party Poison, this is a waste of my time! And I'm not _afraid _of losing because there is _no competition _to be lost!"

"We just spent _hours_ talking about him, so I'm guessing that you have him on your mind quite a bit." Marilyn smiled, despite the tense air in the room. She was half terrified that Frenzy would go ballistic on her and kill her, but also half worried that the woman in the room was passing up a chance to heal whatever gaping wound had opened up inside of her for whatever reason. Frenzy didn't respond and leaned against the wall near the doorway with her back facing Marilyn. Everything suddenly seemed so _sad_ and _heavy_. When she realized that Fire Frenzy had nothing more to say Marilyn got up from where she sat on the bed, picking up the beaded bracelet as she did.

"Here, take these." Marilyn leaned against the wall in front of Frenzy, not forcing the girl to look at her. _Maybe I broke her. She doesn't seem to have heard me._ Holding out the bracelet she waited for Frenzy to take it but Frenzy merely stared at the beads in her hand. "It's okay to care about Party Poison, Frenzy. It doesn't make you any less of a person or anything in fact, it makes you more of one." Slipping the beads over Frenzy's right hand, Marilyn then gripped the hand in a comforting way. For a moment, Marilyn contemplating apologizing for giving her such a hard time but threw the idea out the window as Frenzy spoke.

"Maybe you're right about a few things." Frenzy didn't say what Marilyn was right about, but both girls seemed to realize that Frenzy had admitted that there were some clear cut feelings inside of her somewhere for Party Poison, as much as she was loathe to admit it. _I'm not repeating it though, so she better not ask further._ Instantly Frenzy felt torn with guilt. If Poison was feeling any ounce of what she was then what she was going to do next was selfish and petty and he'd never forgive her. _Not that it matters._

"Was that so hard?" Marilyn half smiled, pulling her hand back and walking back to the bed to sit down and wait for Death-iNation to return. "Now you've just got to admit it to _him_."

"It doesn't matter." Frenzy didn't turn to face the bed or Marilyn. "It's too late for that at this point. What comes next is all that matters to me." _That's right. Your feelings don't matter Frenzy, you owe it to us to continue. You owe it to the people you promised. You should kill that girl for bringing up what you'd finally managed to swallow down after struggling to leave._

"Look, after whatever you need to do in the City is done, I'll help! I have to get my payment from Poison anyway." Marilyn chuckled, attempting to get rid of the tension in the room, to no avail.

"Funny, didn't strike seventeen year old prostitute to be such a talented psychiatrist." Frenzy finally turned away from the wall, apparently finding her sense of humor again. _It's easier to be funny than it is to be serious. Maybe if I promise to do this with her after all is said and done she'll let it go._

"You know, I might look further into that. I'm pretty much over being a prostitute." Marilyn laughed, knowing there were very few people who would listen to her advice. "There are weirder things that have happened in this day and age."

"Yeah, that's for sure." Frenzy widened her eyes in recognition. _Yeah, like everything for the last two fucking weeks, that's what._

"Oh! Your clothes are probably done drying now. I'm sure you want to get changed before Nation gets back here. You don't want to go prancing about the City in that dress. Something tells me with the way you fight, you need the extra clothing." Marilyn got up from the bed and walked into the other room to go and retrieve Frenzy's drying clothing.


	32. A Different Color

Fire Frenzy's bunker looked particularly sad and glum without her in it. The graveyard in the distance didn't offer it any help either with that. Party Poison parked his Trans Am next to the building, hoping not to disturb anything that Frenzy would be annoyed by. When he found her in Battery City he was going to have to offer her as many positive things as he could to try and lure her back and keep her from being angry with him for following after her like some lovesick puppy dog. _I'm not lovesick, honestly I don't know why I'm following her. I just know this is where I'm supposed to be._ Pulling the keys out of the ignition of his car, Poison shoved open the door to his Trans Am and leaned against it as he observed the bunker and thought about how the scenario would play out.

_Yeah I'm sure that "Hey Fire Frenzy, I broke into your bunker while you were gone, after you told me to leave you alone but didn't run over any of your possessions when I parked outside" will earn me a shit ton of points._ Poison rolled his eyes at his thoughts but couldn't help but smirk as he pictured her response to the fact that he'd broken in at all. Naturally, all of his thoughts ended somewhere in the x-rated zone of his mind but it was fun to imagine anyway even if none of it would ever be a reality. _Besides, the last two weeks have been the most sexually frustrating weeks I've had in a long time so I think it's a pretty damn good excuse for me to be fantasizing._ Poison could hear the passenger side door close and so he closed his own as well and trudged toward Frenzy's bunker, assuming Rainbow Riot was following in tow.

"I haven't been out here in a long time. I honestly hadn't seen Frenzy in over a year before she contacted me to help you out." Rainbow Riot pushed at the front door of the bunker but it didn't budge and she assumed it was locked and started to mess up her hair in hopes she could get one of the bobby pins out to use it to get into the bunker.

"I've been here more than I'd like to admit in the last week. Actually, more than Frenzy would like to admit I'm sure." Poison pulled out his gun and blasted the lock without a second thought. Rainbow Riot, who had been pulling bobby pins from her hair when Poison had done so, stared at him in awe of his impatience.

"I could've picked it, you know so we could lock back up before we left. Now how are we going to keep the damn door closed?"

"This is _much_ faster, don't you think?"

"No wonder she didn't like you, you're hasty. Not a shred of patience underneath that red mat of hair, is there?"

"Oh, she _more_ than liked me and I have _plenty_ of patience, just not for locked doors." Poison cursed himself for being overly cocky but figured he wasn't lying so the cursing didn't last very long.

"Wow. Just… wow." Rainbow Riot had nothing else to say in regards to the man's attitude. Looking around the bunker made her feel sick to her stomach. The place looked like it had been ransacked. The battle for the Killjoys camp had bled Frenzy nearly completely dry of weapons and ammunition. _It's not like her to just give away her weapons the way she did for Party Poison. Maybe he's not crazy, maybe she actually did like him. Or something much worse is going on in her head._

"Hey, _you_ like me too. I can tell. It's a curse though, given the situation at hand and all." Poison put a hand to his belt buckle and purposely wiggled his hips from side to side suggestively.

"Don't flatter yourself, Poison. You know people only look at your ass because your pants are ungodly tight and they're wondering what sort of sorcery you might use to get in them." Riot chuckled under her breath and started to search the dark bunker.

Poison unzipped the left pocket on his jacket and slipped a duct tape covered book light out of it and held it up victoriously, as if it were some kind of prize. Given the circumstances he was sure Kobra Kid wouldn't miss it this time anyway and he'd apologize for taking it later. Pressing the tiny button on the top, the small light flooded the area just in front of him with enough light for him to search what was left of Frenzy's bunker.

"I have a flashlight." Rainbow Riot pulled a tiny keychain flashlight out of her pocket and turned it on, the glow of it illuminating far more than Poison's book light.

"I like mine better." Poison stuck his tongue out at her in defiance and then walked with purpose toward the back of the bunker.

"I think we need to rely on your friend in the City, Party Poison. It looks like Frenzy cleaned this place out before we did and didn't leave any clues behind."

"Of course there's nothing _out here_." Poison put the end of the book light in his mouth, not willing to bite onto the duct taped handle of it. It lit up his face comically with an orange glow as he moved the shelving away from the hidden door he'd found what seemed like a lifetime ago. He couldn't help but remember how angry Fire Frenzy had been with him when she'd found him snooping in that back room. But he also couldn't help but remember how he'd kissed her such a short time beforehand and how they'd rolled around in the dirt together, so to speak. Of course the rolling had actually been more like fighting, but the struggle for dominance had been half the fun for him. It _hadn't_ been much fun having a knife against his throat though, but she hadn't cut him with it when she'd had the chance and _that_ part had been fun. Even the taunting had been _kind of_ fun.

"What the hell are you doing, Poison? There's nothing back there! Are you hell bent on wasting our time or just trying to piss Frenzy off? Well newsflash: she's not here." Rainbow Riot chuckled, unable to contain her amusement at the ridiculous display Party Poison was making of himself. Riot couldn't be sure there really wasn't anything back there since she had never bothered to snoop through Fire Frenzy's things in the past. Of course, she'd also never felt the need to dig through her friend's things seeing as she was sure Fire Frenzy wasn't one for invasion of privacy. Poison muttered and mumbled against the flashlight for a moment before pulling it out of his mouth to speak clearly after he was certain there was no way for him to form words with it in there.

"We slept here the night before Fire Frenzy and I came to find you. When I say 'we' I mean all of us as a group, not just me and Frenzy. I was curious as to what she was hiding in this bunker and I'd found the seam of the door a couple days prior to that when she'd fixed my gun. So, while she was resting that night I came in here and I found this." Poison leaned against the door and shoved it open with a grunt. The secret room was dark, so Poison held up the book light to illuminate it. "I wish I had a fucking lighter since there's a candle on the shelf here, but alas, book lights do not give off sparks. At least I don't think they do… Not unless you _really_ fuck with them and I don't have that kind of time." Poison forced the sticky side of the duct tape onto the shelf next to the doorway by the candle and peered around in the dim light given off by Kobra's book light. The wall that had once had the pictures of the dead orphans pinned to it was empty and all of the papers that had once been scattered on the desk were missing. The knife he'd found that had been branding her flesh had also disappeared.

"Even though you found the secret room or whatever, it seems like you're not going to find some hidden treasure here. Fire Frenzy is pretty thorough with what she plans out, Poison, she's not going to leave something behind that she doesn't want prying eyes to see. And I'm sure the moment you found this room she got rid of all the important information she had stored in here."

"That's the thing, she didn't." Poison held up a finger to silence her objections. "I'm telling you, she _actually_ liked me even though she wouldn't admit it for a fucking second. She didn't take anything out of this room except for the pictures on the wall, things are just moved around a little bit. I guess she cleaned up before she left. Probably used the desk to look over the papers she stole from my room." Poison grumbled and muttered under his breath. "Fucking bitch accuses _me_ of stealing and she's stolen from _me_ twice now. Talk about a fucking hypocrite."

"You do look like a thief though, to be fair."

"Gee, thanks for that, Rainbow Riot. You're a lot of help. Why don't you start looking around and make yourself useful instead of taking pot shots at me whenever you find the chance to?" Poison pulled the drawers beneath the right side of the table open, looking for the paperwork he'd seen on the desk the last time he'd been in the secret room. Rainbow Riot joined him and pulled the drawers along the other side of the desk open in search of the same thing.

"It's just so _easy_ though, Poison." Riot smiled and then stopped at the last drawer, finding a manila envelope filled to the brim with papers of all kinds. "Here's something. Is this what you were looking for?" Riot held up the folder and looked curiously at Poison who snatched it all too eagerly from her hands. She hadn't expected to find anything in their search. Jumping onto the desk, adjusting himself so he was sitting comfortably, Poison pulled open the envelope and began to pull paper after paper out of it and set it down on the desk next to him.

Records of deaths and births of children in the City and outside of it filled the envelope and schematics of buildings inside of Battery City followed. Further in was a crudely drawn map with buildings in the City crossed off of it. _Clearly these are buildings she's already checked, for what, I'm not sure._ At the bottom of the map were a few words, speculating some next moves but eventually crossed out, as though she'd already pursued them and nothing had come of it. The next few pages were lists of drugs and their ingredients as well as the initial reactions, purpose, side effects and withdrawal symptoms. Frenzy had them all written down in such detail that Poison could only guess that she'd experimented on herself with them to find out what they did and the reactions they'd cause on those who used them. Worst of all was the list of withdrawal symptoms, which always read longer than the positive effects the drugs were supposed to cause. _All of these drugs were designed to keep the people of the City prisoner. They were never designed to help._

Frenzy had drawn little skulls next to some of the drugs and he wondered quietly how she'd survived through some of them where she'd written "death" down as a side effect to withdrawal. If he ever found her again, Poison would make it a point to ask.

"God, I had no idea that she had all of this hiding in here…" Rainbow Riot was looking at the pages that Poison had discarded. "I had no idea what she was up to. I thought she was just an arms dealer and an addict."

"Looks like she's the greatest fucking terrorist I've ever fucking seen." Poison scoffed, partially enamored further by the fact that this woman had done so much against Better Living Industries but he wondered just what she had planned in the long run. The last paper looked like the newest bit of information she'd gathered outside of what she'd stolen from Poison's house a few days prior. At the very bottom of the paper she'd written hastily: "Where the fuck is it?" Poison read the words aloud and wondered what she was looking for. All he could guess is that she was trying to accomplish what she'd told Aghast all those years ago she was going to do. Fire Frenzy was single handedly trying to take down Better Living Industries and doing a surprisingly good job.

"Poison…" Rainbow Riot had apparently realized the same thing when she'd gotten to the last piece of paper. Even without having learned her story from her childhood, it seemed as though Frenzy's intentions were clear as ice. "She's going for the main computers. If she takes those out, it'll cripple Better Living Industries long enough for your Killjoys to take them out." Riot had thought it out a bit further than Party Poison had and suddenly it made sense to him too.

"Fuck and I thought she was _stupid_ going after them by herself."

"If she gets that far into Better Living headquarters she's not going to get out." Riot whispered under her breath. "Not without help."

"We thought she wasn't capable of _this_ either. I thought she was out of her mind even thinking about this kind of approach, but maybe she's a lot fucking saner than the rest of us realized."

"I think she'd argue it was our relationships and human attachments that kept us from realizing what she'd apparently realized a long time ago. But in the same breath, that's what keeps us from losing our minds."

"At least she's not so delusional to think she could do it _all_ on her own." Poison whispered under his breath, unsure if this thought comforted him or disturbed him further. "She was giving me a chance to help her before she even knew me. The likelihood of her getting out of the City after doing such a thing _is_ slim to nothing. She was hoping that if she made such a large blow to Better Living Industries, I'd take the opportunity and run with it, knocking out the rest of their information centers and computer systems until they were driven from the City."

"Why didn't she tell you about it beforehand?" Rainbow Riot straightened the pile of papers and stuck them back inside the manila envelope.

"Because I would've stopped her from doing it." Poison hated to admit it, particularly to this woman who had done little else besides berate him since the moment they met, but he had to. _Frenzy constantly put you down too, what's the big difference there, Poison? I'm such a dumbass._ "I would've stopped her because she would've gotten hurt or worse and I couldn't let that happen. It's why she didn't bother to make any attachments to people or at least she tried not to."

"Poison, I'm worried she's going to do something stupid." Riot knew they were both thinking it but she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

"No, she's not doing something stupid. She's doing the only thing that would actually fucking work against these assholes. Problem is, I don't _want_ her to do it." Poison groaned and leaned against the wall of the secret room, incredibly frustrated with the situation at hand. He hopped off of the desk after a moment and grabbed the now refilled manila envelope from Rainbow Riot's hands. "We should take this with us. Just in case there's more to it that we haven't figured out yet. There was a lot of information in there I could give to Jet-Star too to help with some of our patients who have been exposed to Better Living's drugs." Poison had always thought Fire Frenzy had been taking drugs to get off or ease the pain in her leg from those nasty carvings he'd discovered, but now he wondered if they helped counteract some of the other drugs she'd taken and the addiction had stemmed naturally from there.

"I always thought that she was too stubborn to do anything like this, Poison. I always had faith that she would stick around for the people who cared about her." Rainbow Riot walked with Poison out of the bunker and back toward the Trans Am. Poison got into the driver's seat and turned the engine over.

"Yeah, I've been worrying about this since I first found that room. I knew she had some kind of death wish going after dead kids the way she does. It's like she's torturing herself into not enjoying anything about life by surrounding herself by guilt and deceit constantly." Poison waited for Riot to get into the car and close the door behind her before shifting the car into gear and taking off toward the City. An hour into driving and they'd gotten into the second zone, just past the Crow's Nest. Poison knew he couldn't bring his Trans Am into the City without asking to be a target. He'd also been doing some thinking about some of the other things that made him an obvious Killjoy. He was unwilling to ditch his jacket for this trip, since something in his pockets always tended to save him in the nick of time in dangerous situations, but the red hair he could do something about relatively quickly and he could change it back once he was out of the City.

"Do me a favor, start going through those papers again and try to make sense of them. It still doesn't tell us where she's going though I have a feeling it's the testing facility she and I were spying on when you caught me with my pants down, figuratively, the other day in the first zone." Poison contemplated what he could do further to disguise himself. _When I think disguise I always think fake mustache. No one would recognize me that's for sure, I can't grow a fucking beard or mustache to save my life._

"I wanted to ask about that but I'm pretty sure you've implied all I need to know." Rainbow Riot pulled out paper after paper, pouring through any locations listed, hoping to find a list of ones that Frenzy had made of the most importance. If they could pinpoint it to a few buildings then perhaps they'd be able to find her before she did anything stupid. It was going to be a lot tougher if they had to scour every Better Living Industries building in the City.

"Yeah, pretty sure it's obvious and if I have to spell it out for you, then you're kind of an idiot."

"You have such a way with words, Poison, no wonder she fell for you." Riot rolled her eyes and continued on her search but nearly lost all of her papers as Poison slammed hard on the brakes. The trip had gone faster than she'd expected, having not realized they were in the first zone already, but that hadn't been why Poison had stopped so abruptly. Now that Riot had taken her eyes off the papers she could see what had caused their sudden braking. A woman was standing in front of the car, only a foot away from where the screeching tires had forced it to stop. Poison opened the door to his car, throwing off his seatbelt and cursing.

"What the fuck is your problem lady? You could've gotten killed and then I'd have to clean your fucking guts off of my windshield and I just _washed _this thing!" Poison cursed, immediately flipping the woman the middle finger. Rainbow Riot watched the exchange curiously then cried out in surprise as the windshield shattered in front of her. Instinctively she covered her face and received only minor cuts from the blow along her arms, and mostly from the force of the safety glass hitting her skin. "Holy fucking shit!" Poison had crouched low out of instinct when he'd heard the glass shattering and luckily he'd managed to be missed by any of the projectiles.

The woman had dead looking eyes and a pale face and seemed to not recognize either of them. Her hand was held in front of her, trembling and the air looked thicker somehow between her and the car. Poison wasn't sure why he thought it, but he somehow knew the woman had broken the windshield. _Maybe she threw something and I didn't notice._

"Riot, get out of the car, get out now!" Poison ordered and though Riot loathed listening to him when he barked at her like that, she got out of the car and crouched around the back end. He thought about pulling his gun but stumbled backward in pain as something _crept_ into his ear. At least it felt like something was creeping in there, all he knew was that it felt like fingers were inside of his brain, prodding and poking at every nerve.

"Poison!" Riot yelled, running around just in time to catch him as he stumbled backwards off of his feet and into her arms. Setting him down gently on the ground Riot watched in horror as Poison writhed and gripped at his head, clawing at the sides of his face to try and stop whatever was infiltrating his mind. The woman looked like she was concentrating hard and was slowly approaching the two. "Back off lady, I'll shoot!" Riot pulled her gun, hand shaking from what she'd seen happening, terrified of the state the man on the ground was in. Party Poison looked like he was having a seizure of some kind. "Poison you have to snap out of it! I can't do this alone!"

The red headed leader of the Killjoys didn't hear what Riot was yelling at him. Instead he was trying desperately to find a way to get whatever this intrusion was out of his brain. It felt like something was crawling between his brain and his skull and whatever it was had found the most painful parts of his brain and was pinching and pulling at it. The pain was indescribable, like nothing Poison had ever felt in his life. His thoughts felt like they were being sucked away so he tried desperately to think of nothing other than the pain he was feeling, in hopes of muddling whatever was doing this to him.

"I said stop it!" Riot aimed her gun and pulled the trigger but the woman was suddenly three feet to the left of where she'd aimed. Gaping in surprise, Riot shot again but the woman had moved again, this time to the right. "What the fuck are you?"

"You're in my way." The woman cocked her head to the side, her voice sounding hollow. "I must find Destroyer before he gets into any further trouble. I don't have time for meddling Killjoys like you." Her voice was void of emotion but as her neck twitched her head to the side Riot thought she seemed disturbed and rather angry.

Poison turned onto his stomach and threw up. Opening his eyes he could see the vomit beneath him but the pain inside his head wouldn't quit. _What's doing this? Stop! Stop, I can't think! My thoughts are fucked. Fuck… Who are you? What are you doing to me?_ And very suddenly Party Poison could feel his thoughts disappearing and turning into something completely different, though the pain refused to cease. He could see what the woman was seeing.

He could see himself on the ground, throwing up and desperate to stay on all fours and he could see that Riot was aiming a gun at the woman, but to his surprise she wasn't thinking about the Killjoys in front of them. She was thinking about her brother, her brother the Destroyer. _Destroya, Destroya_, she kept repeating over and over in her mind and Poison thought he heard drums. Very suddenly things changed, he saw into her past. He saw Vengeful Venom terrified and tied to a chair, he saw Frenzy in front of three little girls, looking terrified. He'd _never_ seen her look terrified and he realized why.

_Instigator. She's Instigator. Holy shit she's part of that IOD project that was being tested the other day._ Poison couldn't hear his own thoughts but he could hear hers. She had some kind of telepathy he guessed, which sounded outlandish, but he'd read enough comic books to know the term.

"Get out of _my head!_" Poison finally managed to yell, stumbling to his feet. Rainbow Riot was hiding behind the car again. Instigator seemed shocked by the fact that Poison had fought her off. Holding her head she hunched forward.

"I don't have _time_ for you!"

"Instigator, what did you do with Frenzy? I saw her!" Poison coughed, trying to regain himself. His legs felt weak and his body was riddled with phantom pains but he could manage himself just fine. Pulling his gun from its holster he fired three shots in several different directions. One of them hit the woman in the arm despite her trying to move to avoid them the same way she'd done for Rainbow Riot and she howled in pain and surprise.

"Poison! Poison hide! You can't fight her!" Riot cried out in shock and ran to the man, grabbing his arm and trying to drag him away. "We have to run, she's too strong! She's too fast!"

"No, I'm not running from this bitch! She's going to tell me what she did with Frenzy! She's going to tell me what she did with _Venom_, Riot!" The woman froze at the sound of her lover's name and she suddenly seemed more determined to stand her ground, if not still horrified that she had to.

"You are wasting my time." Instigator yelled again, but her voice sounded doubled, like someone with a much lower voice was speaking in time with her. _Like those demons in every possession film ever made, that's what she fucking sounds like right now._ Holding both her hands out, the one dripping black blood onto the ground that hit the dirt with a hiss, she commanded the air around them kicked up and dirt flew into the air creating a haze around them all. The Trans Am groaned and budged in the wind. "Out of my _way_!" Instigator picked her left hand up above her head and Rainbow Riot flew into the air, cursing under her breath. Poison grabbed at Riot to try and pull her back to the ground. _Shit, if she falls when she's pregnant I'll never forgive myself for getting us into this mess!_

"Put her down!" Poison picked up a rock and threw it through the wind, smacking right into Instigator's head. She flew back, much further than she should have from something so small hitting her and the wind suddenly died. Riot fell from the air and Poison hurried beneath her, unsure if he could catch her but if nothing else he could break her fall and hopefully keep her from hurting her unborn child. Riot landed in Poison's arms but the momentum forced them both to the ground. Riot got to her feet and was about to thank Poison when out of nowhere Instigator reappeared with her hands to Poison's throat, nails digging into his skin, blood already visible from where they pressed.

"I _don't_ have _time_ for you." Instigator picked Poison up with ease by his throat. He grabbed at her hands trying to breathe properly, feeling his vision fading, black spots appearing very quickly then disappearing whenever he managed to steal a breath. Riot reached for her gun but found her arm heavy and pained very suddenly as if someone was squeezing her wrist. One hand had slipped from Poison's throat and was in the air, making like it was holding Riot down even if she was at least a foot away from the woman. Seeming torn between killing the two and going about her business, Instigator threw Poison to the side, into the dirt and in the blink of an eye was at his side, kicking him in the ribs, repeatedly.

"You're lucky I don't have the time for you!" Instigator disappeared like a shadow and Rainbow Riot rushed over to Poison's side once the grip on her arm had been released.

"Poison! Are you okay?" Riot yelled in horror, afraid that the man had broken some ribs when Instigator had kicked him like that and they hadn't even gotten into the damn City yet. They couldn't afford to be weak.

"Son of a bitch." Poison groaned, rolling onto his stomach holding his side. He slowly got to his knees and pressed on his chest to check to see if his bones had broken. Lifting his shirt after a moment to get a closer look at the damage done, he saw the red mark that had formed where her foot had met his ribcage. Surely a bruise would form but it looked like he had escaped without any broken bones. Spitting dirt and vomit from his lips, Poison slowly got to his feet. "She was weak, it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would."

"What happened to you? What was that? Poison you were having some kind of seizure!"

"No, I wasn't sick. She was in my head." Poison leaned forward, his hands on his knees as he regained his breath. "I can't explain it to you but it was like she cracked my skull open and forced herself into my thoughts."

"Oh God!" Riot clasped her hands to her mouth and shook her head. She had no idea that anyone could do that sort of thing, nonetheless Better Living Industries. How were they supposed to fight against that?

"Problem is that it backfired, whatever she was doing to me. I could see inside _her_ head too. She met Fire Frenzy at some point, and it didn't look good and Venom was…" Poison curled his lip in distaste. "I'm sorry, but I think they have Venom."

"No…" Rainbow Riot shook her head. "No, I refuse to think they have him again. They can't hurt him, I know they can't. He got away once, and he wouldn't let them get him again!"

"You can think it all you want, but we can't let it get in the way of what we're doing out here. If you can't handle knowing what we know now then you can take my car and go back to camp."

"No, I'm going with you." Riot thought about the situation at hand. If Venom was captured by Better Living Industries and had met these monsters it was possible he was already dead. She had promised to help Poison find Fire Frenzy and she would stick to her guns. Riot wasn't the type to break a promise. Leaning against the car she took a deep breath.

"I'm going to pull the car around and hide it behind one of the shops in the first zone. Then we'll go into the City on foot."

"What's the plan Poison? We can't just wander around in there, you know that you're a target and I'm guessing that if you could see what was in _her_ mind, then she could see what was in yours. She has to know what we're up to."

"Thing is, I'm not sure she was interested at all in what I had to do in the City. She was fixated on finding her brother, Destroyer?" Poison seemed hesitant as he said it out loud. Even now it sounded crazy. How could she get into his head like one of the fucking X-Men? _Professor X would be fucking proud._

"It doesn't matter. The Dracs know exactly who you are even if they don't know what we're up to so we can't wander around in there aimlessly. We have to have a plan." Riot was frustrated and upset by what had just happened between them and Instigator but was trying to regain her cool. "You hurt her somehow, though… how did you hurt her?" It was a very sudden change of topic but Riot was curious. _My mind is going a mile a minute, it's only natural I'm going to jump around in conversation._

"Apparently she can't do that thing in my head without hurting her mind too so… I figured? Aim for the head. And I saw her moving around all fucking crazy like that when you tried to shoot at her to help me. Next time you shoot at one of these assholes, shoot to the left and right first then at your target. One of those is bound to hit something that moves that fast." Poison sighed and touched the front of his car, pouting at the sight of the broken windshield. "I just fixed this fucking thing…" A sound of distaste slipped from his lips and he got into the driver's seat after sweeping the broken safety glass from the windshield out of the car.

"You're smarter than you look, Poison."

"That's what I've been told. Get in. I'm leader of the Killjoys and people _still_ doubt I have any brains." Poison closed his door and waited for Riot to get in the passenger's seat. "We're going to go visit my sleeper cell in the City, Death-iNation. He's the one I told you about at camp. I'll give him what Fire Frenzy had hidden in her bunker and see if he can make any more sense out of it than we did. But before we do that…" Poison drove through the first zone and parked next to a liquor store. He could make a quick getaway here and no one would think any differently. "I need you to help me with something."

"What is it Poison? Are you hurt? Do we need some first aid?"

"Yeah, I got the shit kicked out of me but that's not what I need help with right now." Poison sighed and got out of the car. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Riot got out of the car as well and followed Poison through the first zone, to a convenience store that looked abandoned but an 'Open' sign flickered in the half boarded up window so the two walked inside.

Poison kept his head hung low and his shoulders shrugged up as he walked through the aisles, trying not to be noticed. After the things that had happened in the second zone and the chaos he'd created in the last week in these first two zones he thought it best not to be caught here in fear that someone would call the Dracs and alert them of his presence. "Here we are." Poison picked up a box of black hair dye and held it out to Riot. Pulling his ratty leather wallet from his pocket he handed her some cash. "Buy that shit. We need to get rid of this red. At least I won't stick out like such a sore thumb this way." Rainbow Riot looked at him in confusion but went and purchased the box of hair dye anyway then asked if they could use the bathroom in the back.

"Come on, let's go do this now. The faster we do it, the faster we can find Frenzy."

"And Venom. I'm not leaving him to be tortured, Riot." Poison touched her shoulder and gave her a serious look. "He's one of us now, we'll find him okay? No man left behind." Riot smiled with relief and nodded her head. "He just gave you that key huh? No questions asked? Everyone tells me to go piss out back."

"Well, I'm cute."

"So am I." Poison placed a hand on his hip and posed the best he could as if to prove that fact.

"I don't look like an asshole about to cause trouble either."

"Touché." Poison chuckled beneath his breath. _Keeping up this sense of humor is all that's keeping me together right now. Fuck my ribs hurt._

"I'm proud of you." Riot led Poison into the bathroom in the back of the store and closed the door behind them, locking it so no one would interrupt even if it meant they'd have to deal with the fumes of the hair dye.

"For…? Not whining like a bitch about being kicked in the ribs? For growing a pair and going after Frenzy after throwing a fit about it for a few days? For not crying like a baby over the busted windshield of my car? Or, oh wait, deciding to go after Vengeful Venom when I know it's a suicide mission?" Poison pulled off his jacket and threw it on the floor beneath the dirty bathroom sink. Riot was pulling the box open and emptying the contents into the sink. As she mixed the dye she couldn't help but laugh.

"No! For dying your hair a darker color. I know you're stubborn about that. I've heard stories about you being the ginger bitch." Riot laughed a little bit. "Though I'm a little proud of you for not whining like a bitch about your ribs. I would be."

"Oh ye of little faith." Poison laughed then coughed at the smell of the dye. "Man I forgot how bad this boxed shit smells.

"What do you usually use to get it that red?"

"Fruit punch, Riot. It's my secret." Poison laughed and Riot couldn't tell if he was serious or not. _It wouldn't surprise me if he did use fruit punch or something similar._ With the dye mixed they could continue about this process quickly. Luckily the woman was a little taller than Party Poison and was able to apply the dye easily.

"Smart ass."

"Let's get this over with."


	33. So Long and Goodnight

"Ugh my head…" Vengeful Venom brought his hand to his forehead and rubbed at the wound now caked with dried blood, immediately pulling his hand back at the pain that met him. Waking up in a dark alleyway with bruises and blood all over him wasn't ideal, but it was better than waking up tied to a chair only to get the shit beaten out of him for an hour. Blinking his eyes a few times, Venom mentally cursed upon realizing how much darker the sky had gotten around him since he'd closed his eyes.

_God damnit! I was only supposed to close my eyes for a few minutes, not a few hours. On the plus side, I don't feel like I'm going to die anymore so getting some rest must have actually helped. I don't think I could've managed much longer without passing out anyway. At least having done so here, I didn't get into any trouble. _Slowly stirring, with every intention upon getting up from his corner in the alleyway and finding somewhere quiet and well lit to go over the files he'd stolen, Venom started onto his feet but stopped mid-crouch.

Voices in the street caused him to hesitate. _Are the Dracs still looking for me? Did they ever come looking for me to begin with?_ _Did they find me? Have they been scouring the streets for the Drac in the bloody lab coat who escaped? What happened in that facility that caused the alarms to go off like that? Clearly it wasn't me they were freaking out about with all of those sirens, considering everyone ran past me like I wasn't there._ Reminded of the lab coat he was wearing, Venom slipped it off of his shoulders and discarded it inside of the already open dumpster. Continuing to stay crouched next to the trash can he'd fell asleep leaning against Venom listened to the hushed conversation happening outside of his alley in hopes of finding out what had happened in the facility.

"What are you going to do after I'm gone? Are you really going to let Fire Frenzy break into Central Command by herself? She's cute and all but she seems a little… off. Probably going to get herself killed if you let her do that. You should call the men in white coats to take her to get some help, it'd be good for her."

"Rocky, she seems a little whacky but she's really more perceptive than you think. She picked up on a lot of things about all of us without me having to say anything, and she's smart enough not to mess around with you... Besides, if I tell her she can't go in she'll end up doing it anyway and at least if I'm helping her she might stand a chance getting through that maze of a building."

"That confident in yourself these days are you, Nation? I know you're the inside man and all but I doubt the higher ups for Better Living Industries trusted a rookie with all of their secrets. They're cleverer than any of us give them credit for." Rocky spoke, a cigarette lit between his lips.

"I worked there for a year at the very least Rocky, of course I'm confident in my abilities. I could get us in there and I know that I've been black listed, but I know all the damn secrets to getting in. Better Living may be clever, but they don't think I'd have the balls to break back into their building. What happens next depends on what Frenzy's actual plans are. If she wants to take Better Living Industries down, then that's the place to do it. They keep _everything_ there and I mean _everything_."

"It's a fucking fortress, you're as out of your mind as _she_ is thinking you have a chance at taking that place down." Rocky shuffled nervously, a silhouette in the alleyway to Venom thanks to the dim light outside. He contemplated approaching the two men who were clearly Killjoys and asking them to help him or offering them what he knew, including the folders he'd stolen on the IOD project. With the wounds on his body and the bar code on his neck, along with the paranoid feel he was getting from the two men, Venom was sure they'd shoot him on sight so instead he stayed hunched, closed his eyes, and listened. _It's a shame that there's no way I could communicate to them that I'm trying to help. If Party Poison were here he'd help me out, but no, I had to be a stubborn asshole and come in here to do this on my own._ Opening his eyes, Venom continued to watch the two men, trying to study as many details about them both as he could.

"Aren't you _tired_ of dealing with them?" Nation cursed, slipping a habitual hand into his hair to push it back and into place before bringing it back down to momentarily rest on his chin while he thought. "Aren't you exhausted from having to run for your life when you try to do _anything_ in this City? We're not bad people we shouldn't be fugitives the way we are."

"We're _all_ tired of dealing with them, but we're not stupid enough to think we can take them down by barging in the front door and firing a damn gun!" Rocky grabbed the man's shoulders in concern and gave him a slight shake. "You can't run in there with this girl, it's suicide. You're not a good enough shot man, and I hate to be the one to break it to you but if you're relying on those skills to get you out of there alive you're as good as dead."

"It's better than sitting and doing nothing! It's better than hiding in my apartment until they find me and kill me anyway! Why are we so afraid of them? Why? There are so many more of us than there are of them! If we'd all stop being so afraid and just _go_ after them we'd outnumber them and take them down! People should _never _be afraid of their government, government should fear their people!"

"We're terrified of them because they're capable of shit we could never dream up. Because their web is weaved a lot longer and deeper than either of us could possibly _imagine._ Going after them, even as a group, we'd get ourselves killed. They have resources we would never have access too." Rocky pulled his arms away from Nation's shoulders and slipped the cigarette out of his mouth, exhaling a large puff of smoke. Whatever nerves had been plaguing the man called Rocky, Venom noticed they seemed slightly alleviated by the nicotine in his cigarette.

"I can't lie around and watch them do this to this City anymore when I have a chance to really make an impact on them. We have a real chance to take them out Rocky, it's not as hopeless as you're making it out to be. If we take out the computers in the third floor of that building Rocky then they are _fucked._ Their communications, recipes, experiments, control center, _everything_ is on that floor. They have _no_ files backed up, none. It's all on those computers and you know why they keep it all up there? Do you know why they have _no_ backups?"

"Why?" The man called Rocky seemed skeptical and reluctant to hear the answer.

"Because they don't think were strong enough or smart enough to _ever_ get near it so why the hell should they bother backing it up? Or keeping it some fortress?" Venom couldn't see Nation's eyes from where he hid in the dark alleyway but he had a feeling there was a dangerous glint of excitement within them, shining with hope.

"Cocky bastards." Rocky exhaled his cigarette smoke once again, concentrating on the bitter taste of it. Even he was starting to think this plan could actually stand a chance. Venom could read his body language well enough to guess what he was thinking.

"Well they're wrong about us. Some of us are strong enough to get in there and brave enough to try so if Frenzy thinks she can do it then I'll help her as much as I'm able to. With the Dracs distracted by being out attacking the Killjoys in the zones security could be less than usual at the Central Command. Our best time is to strike now. We have to do this before it's too late and we're back to square one."

"You're going to get yourself killed." Rocky whispered after a moment of quiet contemplation, dropping the cigarette on the ground and crushing it between his boots until the smoke and flame disappeared.

"Well at least I'll go out fighting. I'm tired of hiding in my apartment and watching my back. I sit every night listening to their transmissions, hoping that the Killjoys would come and storm the City or something and they never do. I want to fight Rocky, I want to help the Killjoys succeed in taking down Better Living and I think we have a real shot here at doing just that." Nation sounded far more confident than Venom expected him to. _It's insane to break into Central Command, even under the circumstances. But, if they're going in and they feel this bold perhaps they'll get lucky._

"What about Marilyn Deathrow, huh? She cares for you man, like a lot and you're going to throw that out to go fight some other girl's battle?"

"Look Rocky, it's not just _her_ battle, it's all of ours. It always has been. You're risking your neck breaking into the air strip too, stealing a fucking plane to go out and warn a bunch of Killjoys you don't even know. You could get shot down and die before you got out of the City's perimeter and no one would be the wiser. So why are you doing that then? It's taking just as big of a risk as I am, considering how locked down this City is right now."

"I'm _not_ going to get shot down on my way out of the City. Dracs have shit for aim and you know it."

"They _don't_ have shit for aim or we'd have won this war by now and wouldn't be so damn scared of them would we?" Nation countered. "Look, Marilyn will understand that I have to do this. I know that she will. You need to get out of here while you can. If they get any wind of this all air travel will be grounded and they'll bring out the heavy guns to make sure it stays that way."

Venom stopped listening to the conversation outside of the alleyway. He remembered the woman they were talking about previously, Fire Frenzy. He remembered finding her wanted picture and information inside of the theater before it exploded. He remembered helping her and Party Poison out of the alleyway in the first zone and into the underground to meet up with Rainbow Riot. He'd heard stories about her from Riot about the way that they'd fought together over the years and how their friendship had strengthened.

If this Nation character was the same one he'd seen on the wanted list with Fire Frenzy then they were going to need all the backup they could possibly get. Venom grabbed the folders from beneath where he sat and started slowly creeping down the alleyway in the opposite direction. He'd decided he'd heard enough of their plan so he could stop snooping and carry out with what he had planned for the rest of the night. The files that had once sat beneath him were burning to be read.

_I'll follow them into Central Command and provide backup unseen. I'm sure they could use the help anyway but if I offered it before I saw Fire Frenzy I'd probably end up dead and useless. First I've got to get cleaned up though. I wouldn't very much help if I bled out before I got to the damn command center in the first place. I know it's risky breaking in there but if those two are willing to do it then I'm willing to do the same and risk my life with them. Not to mention, my luck is pretty fantastic today and they could use that kind of luck. Well, except for getting the shit kicked out of me. That was not lucky. At least none of my bones seem broken minus my finger. That's lucky._

Death-iNation and Zeppelin Rocket crept through the streets of Battery City, never aware that prying eyes had watched their entire conversation. Nation clipped the wired fence surrounding the airstrip just enough for them to sneak through it The two hurried to the nearest small plane on the airstrip. The rest of the ones left outside were too cumbersome or were jetliners so the biplane at the far end of the runway seemed to be just what they needed. Dark clouds were creeping in from the western sky, threatening rain and thunder in the near future. Flashes of lighting could be seen illuminating bits of the clouds even from as far as they were from them.

"It's not worth it to try and break into the hangar to look for something smaller. By the time we get those big fucking doors opened up we'll have guns at our throats. They're noisy as fuck and take ten minutes to open so it's best if we just stick with this even though I'm more used to monoplanes." Zeppelin Rocket instructed, aware that his friend wasn't as savvy about aviation as he was. Glancing around until he found a set of wheeled stairs Zeppelin Rocket nodded toward them and instructed for Nation to join him. Nation helped him drag the stairway over to the plane and secure it so that Zeppelin Rocket could climb in properly without it rolling away.

"Do you think you can get it going without the keys? Or should we go searching for those? I have no idea where to begin looking for that kind of thing nor do I know how we would tell the difference from all the other plane keys." Nation asked, climbing the set of stairs after Zeppelin Rocket, curious if planes even _had_ keys for operation. Zeppelin turned around on the top of the stairs, supporting himself solely on the railing, letting his feet dangle in the air and smirked.

"Most pilots leave the important shit in the plane instead of storing it in the terminal. I mean, who is going to _steal_ a fucking plane? Think about it. It's a lot of fucking work to get it going and one look at the control panel will drive off anyone who doesn't know what they're doing. You have to actually know what you're doing to get this thing into the air. I should be able to get this lovely thing up in the air no problem. If you could go in and fry the radar for me, then it could buy me some extra time… It's going to take me a good half an hour to prep this thing to take flight."

"A half an hour? Why does it take so damn long?"

"Pre-flight check man. I'm not an idiot. I know that if I go up there without the proper gear and supplies I'm going to crash at the end of that runway and look like an ass or worse. I'm sure this will do just fine, it looks like someone just brought her in and fueled her up and didn't have time to put her away in the hangar before the facilities closed down. You know how Better Living loves their curfews. Well, right now it's working to our advantage for once." Zeppelin Rocket opened the hatch on the plane and started examining within. "You better get going on that radar shit before it's too late. I'm going to do this as fast as I can, but I can't promise anything less than twenty minutes. After you blow the radar, go back to the girls. Those ladies shouldn't get to have any fun without you."

"Yeah, yeah… I'll head out of here before anyone gets in any trouble. Fly safe Rocky. Hopefully I'll see you on my way out of the City."

"I _always_ fly safe, man. Hey, don't get killed following that chick okay? No chick is worth it." Zeppelin Rocket didn't turn to look at Nation as the man descended the stairs, ready to blast the radar at the opposite end of the runway. Pulling his laser gun out of his holster, Nation looked around the airstrip for the control room. Figuring the best way to fuck up the radar would be to blow the system entirely rather than fuck with the dish. It'd been a long time since Nation had gotten to use his gun appropriately without being absolutely terrified in the process so this sounded like _fun_. The fear of getting caught was still in his gut, but nowhere near as severely as it had been when sneaking through the City or when he'd been trying to save Fire Frenzy outside of the theater.

"Hey wait a second man!" Zeppelin Rocket came running after Nation and handed him two small folded slips of paper. "Take these to the girls, okay? Just in case… it could come in handy! Thanks man!" Zeppelin patted Nation on the shoulder before turning away and hurrying back up the stairs to work on the plane and prep it for takeoff. Nation hadn't even gotten a chance to look at the folded up pieces of paper before his friend had run off. Turning back toward the control room, Nation curiously opened the papers and laughed, seeing the words _for a good time, ladies_ written on them and below was his transmission number. Nation tore the papers up and threw them in the trashcan outside of the door to the control room once he'd reached it.

"Marilyn's _mine, _man. There's no way I'm giving her that." Nation pushed open the door as quietly as he could and walked inside to find a Drac asleep at the desk in front of many screens displaying different security camera footage and one large radar screen on a separate console. Aiming his gun without hesitation, Nation fired two shots in the Drac's face and watched the spray of gore splash behind him over the propaganda posters on the wall and all over the floor. Not bothered by the mess he'd made, Nation shoved the chair that had once seated the Drac over to the side, wheeling the mess that had once been a man out of his way. Nation had never been one to be squeamish at the sight of blood which had always been an advantage for him when he'd worked undercover for Better Living Industries. He'd seen more cruel and disturbing things in those offices than anywhere else in the City.

Hunching over the computer, Nation started working on the controls to try and assess what he was looking at. Video cameras seemed to monitor the airstrip as well as the inside of the air hangars and the facilities hidden underground. _Fucking Better Living and their underground shit. The only place that isn't in a cellar or basement is Central Command. I guess they must feel safer underground._ Instead of blowing the radar's computer terminal, Nation decided he would alter the footage on the video cameras first. It looked like there was some kind of transmitter on the back wall and if he could trick the video into repeating a loop of previously recorded footage then no one would know that the plane from Nation was stolen until it was long gone and no one would know anything was amiss until someone came in and saw the corpse of the Drac, or what was left of it at least.

It took Death-iNation only a few minutes to figure out the secret codes and passwords to the computer system but after the last year having been spent coding and memorizing the Drac playbook he'd managed to break in far quicker than someone else without that knowledge would have. Not to mention, computers were just Death-iNation's thing. He was good with them. He was handy with most electronics, relatively charming and decent leadership skills. Not to mention he was a pretty decent kick boxer. As he listed his skills off in his head one by one he couldn't help but chuckle a bit beneath his breath at how ridiculous it seemed to be tooting his own horn in such a quiet way.

With a few clever movements at the keyboard, Nation managed to change the screens to footage from the previous days and set it to loop indefinitely so that unless checked thoroughly, no one would be the wiser. As for the radar he had a far less complex plan; Death-iNation was going to blow that to hell. He wasn't sure where else the radar satellite would transmit to but likely whoever was watching on the other end wouldn't suspect a problem with the computer itself but rather with the radar tower. If men were sent out to the radar tower, they would find nothing amiss and then continue onto the computer. This scenario left Zeppelin Rocket and Death-iNation with plenty of time to escape.

Peeking out the large front window of the building on the other side of the computer terminal, Nation saw Zeppelin Rocket warming up the engines of the plane. He could see the dual propellers spinning on either wing and knew the man would be ready for takeoff very soon. He gave his friend a thumbs up, which remained unseen but he felt better for doing it nonetheless.

"Just in time." Nation stepped a few feet back from the terminal, covered his face with his left arm and aimed the gun before shooting the radar until it whirred, smoked and turned off. The humming of the large computer in the room faded. The fate of the Killjoys in the zones was in Zeppelin Rocket's hands now. Death-iNation had to sneak back through the City and hope the girls made it safely to his apartment. Watching storm clouds on the western skyline, Nation hurried across the air strip and back through the tear in the chain link fence he'd created earlier.

Holding the chain links between his fingers he watched as the plane suddenly took action. Heart racing, he watched as it slowly began to roll forward, gain momentum, the propellers spinning so quickly they couldn't be seen clearly. Finally the wheels left the ground and the plane left the runway undisturbed. Releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Death-iNation felt secure enough to turn his back on the plane in the air. No one seemed to notice it had taken off and if they had, by the time action could be taken it would be too late.

Slowly Death-iNation took to the task of creeping back through the city streets in hopes of returning to his apartment. Once there he'd find out what Frenzy's grand scheme was for her fight against the corporation he'd played nice with for too long. If she had a good enough head on her shoulders, they'd plan their attack and either end Better Living Industries reign of terror or die in the process.

* * *

><p>After it'd been made clear that Disco Bitch was incapable of struggling or escaping the facility a second time, she'd been thrown into a dark cell with just a toilet and the frame of a small bed with a thin cot lying on top of it as furniture. <em>I think this would be more horrifying if I didn't feel half dead and numb. Right now, all I can think is how is this more horrifying than what I've seen? That spider webbing left blisters all over my skin, my body and mind are in such pain. I feel like I'm losing myself, so how could a dark dank cell be what puts me over the edge?<em>

Whatever Better Living Industries had planned for her they weren't anywhere near finished it seemed but Disco Bitch wasn't naïve. She knew each second of precious sanity in her own mind could be her last. The experiments they'd done on her after the webbing had been removed had taken nearly all of the energy she had left and she wasn't sure how she was going to survive another round. Dreading footsteps outside of her cell, Disco Bitch tried to turn her mind off to any sounds in hopes to ease the paranoia.

Fear and regret gripped the woman as she laid on the concrete floor on her stomach, head tilted to the side. Staring at the wall beneath the cot she thought she saw a spider but when she blinked there was nothing there. Was this the beginning of her descent into madness or had that happened out in the desert when she'd wounded Black Cherrybomb. She couldn't help but wonder if he was alright or if he'd died of dehydration and starvation out in the desert because he'd been incapacitated.

Or worse, maybe Korse and the Widow had sent someone after him and he was in one of the adjoining cells, suffering the same fate. _I could never forgive myself if I condemned him to this when he was only trying to save me._ For a second she contemplated calling out his name but then remembered that her mouth had chosen not to communicate her thoughts anymore. To distract from the disturbing thought, Disco continued to investigate her surroundings. The metallic frame of the cot was covered with a thin mattress. The bed itself seemed more like an insult to her than a comfort so she stayed on the floor, unsure if she could lift herself that far anyway. Observing her surroundings she found a small rock beneath the frame of the bed.

There was nothing particularly special about the rock but Disco felt drawn to it. Determined to grab it and investigate, she reached underneath the bed but as her fingers touched around the small stone, coal dust broke off on her fingers and she realizes it wasn't a rock at all; it was a small lump of coal or something similar.

Suddenly desperate to leave some kind of legacy behind before she'd lost everything she'd stood for Disco forced herself onto her knees and searched for something to write on with the coal-like rock. The miniscule mattress had no sheet so she couldn't use that as parchment but the toilet did have a roll of shitty single ply toilet paper provided to keep her clean and hygienic. She grabbed the roll and started to write, testing it to make sure it wouldn't rip. The single ply toilet paper kept steady and the coal substance didn't seem to smudge. It was turning out to be the perfect canvas.

There was only a moment of hesitation when the coal touched the paper as she pondered what she was going to write and who she would write to. She wasn't sure why but she thought it was appropriate to write her thoughts out as a letter. It seemed more personal to write to someone. Saying goodbye to no one seemed hollow and depressing. The first smile she'd managed to find in a very long time crossed her lips and she continued hunched over the floor with her writing, more confident than she'd been in a long time.

_Tiger Beatdown,_

_ I never knew your real name, your favorite color, favorite food, stupid pet peeves or anything small about you but you perhaps knew me better than anyone. It sounds absurd seeing that we only knew each other for a week tops but you saw more of me than I'd let anyone see since I first met Party Poison at my shop that day in the desert so long ago when I'd been forced to join the Killjoys. You're the closest I ever came to normal and that's not something I had ever strived for or wanted to strive for. Being with you reminded me how nice normal could be. Normal had always seemed like a curse before this. Now I'm praying for normal._

She hesitated as she wrote those thoughts onto the paper. None of the words coming to her seemed like the proper thing to be said in this dire situation. These could be her last words while sane; she had to make a statement saying such.

_I know that I fought you tooth and nail on the idea of normal after you shared your dream with me. I told you that I couldn't be normal, and I pushed you away when it was so obvious that we belong together. Of the many regrets I have in my life, I regret that lie more than any of the others._

_ On that note there are things I did in the past that I'm not proud of, things I haven't told you about but wasn't trying to hide from you and now I'm not sure you'll ever get to know them. I guess I should tell you now that I have the chance even if it's not face to face. I should at least try, before I lose everything and there's nothing left of what used to be me. Toilet paper isn't exactly the most glorified way to write you love letters but I promise that I'll do my best. I found this piece of coal so I hope it doesn't smudge too much and you can still read these after I'm gone._

_ I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. When you asked me what was wrong that day I didn't want to tell you how tempted I was by the alcohol in that bar so I made up something for our relationship to be a mess! Instead of trying to make what we had work, I let it crumble before it had a chance to really get started. Now, I'm out of chances and I'm sorry. I just thought you should know that of all the things I'm sorry for, that's the most important._

_ I always knew you didn't want me to fit your little picket fence dream and I'm sorry I even thought it. If that were the case you wouldn't have made a pass at a woman who your best friend hated with a passion and who had been sent to kill you. You gave me more chances than I ever deserved._

_ I'm so sorry Tiger._

_ Disco Bitch_

Staring at the toilet paper for what felt like a very long time, Disco felt her vision obscure with tears. Somehow this letter still didn't seem like it was enough to ease the pain. She scribbled out her Killjoy name and replaced it with something that meant more to her.

_Rebecca_

Wiping tears from her cheeks, Disco Bitch slowly and carefully tore the edges of the toilet paper a few plies beneath where she'd finished the letter. She rolled the letter up and carefully stuck it within the inside pocket of her leather jacket for safe keeping. If Tiger ever found her, he could find these letters and if she was already long gone, dead or a puppet, he would know how she really felt and he would know everything he'd never known about her. Better Living Industries wouldn't have the last word in her life, even if they killed her. Her legacy would stay alive through Tiger Beatdown and the Killjoys who knew her. Staring at the toilet paper, Disco Bitch hunched over the paper again and started writing more frantically. There were so many things she wanted to tell him.

_Tiger Beatdown,_

_ I used to use my body to get close to men to kill them, sometimes women too. I know it's not the best way to start a letter but I thought you had a right to know everything about my past. You're the only man I've given myself to in years that I didn't intend to kill. At least not after we'd made love. Also, you're the only one I've ever referred to that as "making love" with. It's probably a small consolation now that you know what I used to do but at least you know the truth now. I hope you don't hate me after learning this. I have a feeling you'd understand. I was confused for so long and at the time it didn't seem to matter. Now that I'm older, I know just how stupid it was for me to do such a thing._

_ Now that I'm trapped here the truth seems so much easier to let out. I don't want to lie or be hardened anymore just to keep up appearances. Even the toughest assassin secretly wants to be loved and find someone to share her life with. I wasn't thinking clearly because I was blinded by the idea that I had to be strong to last out in the desert. But damnit, Tiger, I saw a life with you. I saw everything that you saw in your heart. I saw us married, growing old, having kids, a damn dog and a small house all of our own. Hell, I could even see myself settling down for you, giving up the fighting and being barefoot and pregnant._

_ I love fighting this war and I love the cause we're fighting for but I love you more. I spent so many years searching for my purpose and a reason to keep living and fighting the hopeless fight against Better Living Industries. All of the things I did in hopes that I could find myself ended up destroying me further. You came along, and inadvertently you showed me exactly where I was supposed to be and exactly what I was supposed to do with my life. As corny and ridiculous as it sounds, you showed me exactly what I was missing. You gave me what I needed to fill the void inside of me. You showed me why we had to keep fighting Better Living._

_ Rebecca_

Disco stopped writing once again and stared at the paper. She didn't want to overdo it with the letters but at the same time, she wanted to make sure she'd said all she'd needed to say. Repeating the tearing and rolling process with her paper, she slipped it next to the other letter inside of her hidden pocket of the leather jacket.

_Tiger Beatdown,_

_ These images of you, images of us together, they're disappearing Tiger. I'm losing them because that spider woman is taking them from me. Better Living Industries is stealing everything I am and turning me into some hollow puppet. I'm afraid that the next time I fall asleep when I wake up, I won't remember any of what I put down on this paper._

_ I'm terrified that I won't remember you and if that's the case I don't want to live. If you find me and I'm not the woman you loved, please put me out of my misery. Don't let me be one of their puppets just because you think I might still be inside this hollow shell of a body somewhere. I'm not, set me free by killing what's left of me._

Tears fell freely over Disco's face and she made no effort to wipe them up. What she'd written was true. She'd been so afraid for so long to show any emotions that could make her feel weak that she'd forgotten how good it felt to cry. Who would see her and judge her now anyway? Crying her upset away, her loss? No one would see her cry and it wouldn't make her any weaker for doing so. Perhaps having shed her tears and said her goodbyes, even to the piece of toilet paper that was beginning to run short would help her be stronger against the cancer growing inside of her mind.

_ There is one thing they could never take away from me, one thing I will never forget. And that's that you loved me. You loved me even if you didn't tell me that you did and I knew it from the beginning. That's why you terrified me so much. I knew you loved me. I hope that even though I fought you tooth and nail on the subject you know that I loved you too. I love you with all of my heart Tiger and if I never get to tell you at least I admitted it to myself after long last._

_ If things get too bad here there might be some things I have to do that you won't like or approve of. I hope you can forgive me for what I know has to happen while I'm still in the right mind to do so; while I still have control over my body._

_ Goodbye Tiger._

_ Rebecca_

Rolling up the piece of toilet paper the way she'd done with the prior letters she slipped it into the jacket pocket and zipped it tight. Hopefully whatever happened to her in the end her jacket would at least survive and the letters would find their way to Tiger Beatdown through some stroke of luck. As improbable as it sounded, Disco had to cling to the hope that after her time on this world was done she could offer some comfort to those who remained behind to clean up the aftermath.

Hiding the charcoal within the tube of what remained of the toilet paper Disco slipped it back into place next to the toilet. Slowly she heaved herself onto the bed and laid back. The mattress was thin and offered very little comfort but it was still more comfortable than the concrete floor on her wounded back. If she could just survive a little longer, long enough to do what she knew needed to be done, she would be grateful.


	34. Caught in a Spider's Web

Death-iNation thankfully had an uneventful trip back to his apartment after he'd finished up his business at the airstrip. He'd spied the plane leaving without any problems as he had walked down the sidewalk and felt relieved. As long as Zeppelin Rocket could get back to the Killjoy camp before Better Living Industries decided to strike then there was hope for the oncoming battle. Feeling optimistic, at least about Zeppelin Rocket's ability to reach the Killjoys, he opened the door to the apartment and found the main room empty. He was glad that Marilyn had been smart enough to hide in the secret room rather than linger in the living area. Ever since he'd become a wanted man amongst the Dracs he'd been worried about a raid on his apartment, since his apartment had been listed when he'd gone to work for Better Living Industries.

Fire Frenzy and Marilyn Deathrow were pouring over the schematics and blueprints he'd stolen from Better Living Industries on his last day at work while sitting on the bed, coffee cups in hand. Neither girl was talking, but they both looked like they were concentrating incredibly hard on the task at hand; whatever that was. Frenzy had gotten back into her normal clothing and had left the reddish-orange nightgown on the nightstand.

"How'd it go?" Marilyn got up from the bed and greeted Death-iNation with a kiss on the cheek. It'd been quite a few hours since they'd parted ways and she couldn't help but worry that he'd gotten captured along his voyage. She'd turned on the radio occasionally while he'd been gone to listen for any information on captured Killjoys or fugitives in the City but had heard nothing. In fact, the radio had gone suspiciously quiet with the occasional electronic hiss or click coming through its speakers, as though they'd been found out so the Dracs had cleared the channel altogether.

"Rocky got out of here just fine, don't worry. It took a bit longer than I anticipated because there were some things I had to help him with at the airstrip. The Dracs are sweeping the streets like crazy now. I know they're planning some kind of an attack on the Killjoys but… they're acting like something else is going on too." Death-iNation had his suspicions but he wasn't going to speak them aloud, not yet at least. They had other things to think about outside of what chaos could be going on within Better Living Industries. No matter what it was that was going on, it was working to further aid them in their goal of breaking into headquarters. If Better Living was too caught up with their own internal problems to be looking for intruders then they were going to last longer in Central Command without being caught.

"Do you think they're onto what Fire Frenzy's planning?" Marilyn still wasn't exactly sure _what_ Frenzy was planning but the woman definitely had _some_ sort of plan in her mind. She'd been pouring over Nation's blueprints of Central Command for the last hour and memorizing the halls, it seemed. The problem was she wasn't sure what she was looking for within Central Command. Marilyn had insisted that if they waited for Nation to get back then they could ask him if he knew anything since he'd worked there for quite a long time and Fire Frenzy had agreed.

"No, I don't think they have any idea what she's doing. I know they realize she's still in the City but they were looking for another distraction, another scapegoat, not thinking she was trying to take them out. They don't think she's important enough to worry about right now so they were hoping posting a warrant for her arrest would put her into hiding." Death-iNation was proud to report that fact. He was sure that it was one of Better Living Industries' biggest mistakes in the history of their company. They'd started to underestimate the Killjoys, particularly ever since the rebellion with how long they'd been quiet and biding their time. Arrogance always seemed to be the downfall of the mighty empire, at least history proved it to be.

"Well, that's their mistake then." Frenzy finally spoke up.

"I agree entirely, Frenzy." Death-iNation sat down on the bed where Marilyn had once been seated. Patting his lap, Marilyn casually sat down on it and they looked over the blueprints Frenzy was now studying. "Sorry it took me longer than I anticipated to get back. The Dracs were a lot thicker in patrol on the way back and the weather has taken a nasty turn." Death-iNation apologized for the delay again, upon realizing how late into the night it had become.

"Nasty?" Marilyn grimaced. She absolutely hated the bad weather in the zones. It wasn't like the weather in the stories she'd read but it'd been all she'd ever known. Before she'd met Nation that fateful night in the bar she'd have to find places to hide during the acid storms and torrential downpours the City suffered on occasion. When nasty weather struck Battery City it did so with a hellish vengeance. She'd been burned one too many times by an acid storm to have any positive feelings toward the weather.

"It could work to our advantage but you should see the clouds in the west and the lightning… It's insane. I haven't seen anything like it before."

"How could it possibly work to our advantage?" Marilyn was still making a face of disapproval and snuggling closely in Nation's lap, as though he could protect her from Mother Nature's fierce wrath.

"Well, you know how the Dracs hate the fucking rain." Death-iNation couldn't help but laugh a little at the way Marilyn so hated the darker weather. He found it quirky. The nasty weather had never bothered him. He'd always found it comforting to know that the world was still trying to fight for some normalcy and that there were still a few things that Better Living Industries had no control over. _Unless Better Living had some crazy doomsday weather machine outside of the zones, that is and was actually controlling the weather without any of them realizing it. _The thought had crossed his mind several times but he'd decided to ignore it, thinking it was ludicrous. "But yeah, that's why it took awhile."

While Frenzy didn't seem to give a shit that he'd been late and continued memorizing the blueprints and trying to figure out what her course of action was, Marilyn decided to fill in the blanks for Death-iNation since Frenzy didn't seem to have any desire to.

"It's okay, I've been needing some girl talk anyway and Fire Frenzy got a chance to clean those nasty wounds. Oh and get some clean clothing on. I think she feels much better." Marilyn chuckled softly under her breath as Frenzy glanced up at her and gave her a look that clearly told her she did not care about the clean clothing or the girl talk and it had done nothing for her mood.

"Girl talk, huh?" Death-iNation laughed and then cleared his throat upon seeing the look Frenzy was giving them. Frenzy looked back at the papers and stood from the bed, straightening her skirt before picking up her gun. _I can't linger here any longer. Not with that woman plotting the seeds of doubt in my mind. Maybe you deserve a normal life. Maybe you deserve to be happy and go after Party Poison instead of going through with the plans you've had since you were a little girl with no common sense. No, stay on track Frenzy. You've done well for all of these years, just a little bit longer and you'll finally be free of it all._

"It's been _nice_ and all, but I've got to get going. I've lingered here long enough and while Marilyn was kind enough to help me get cleaned up and share some coffee with me, I have things I need to return to. I don't have time for a coffee break anymore. If Better Living Industries is going after the Killjoys in full force and we've got some nasty weather on our hands then I think it's time for me to do what I came here to do. I've got to go find Grace."

"I still don't know who Grace is. Unless you mean it like… the adjective." Marilyn smiled. "And in that case I think you're already cryptically graceful and should lay off of that hunt! Mission accomplished Frenzy!" Marilyn threw her hand to the side out of excitement, even if she knew it was a pretty poor joke. _Life is one bad joke if you ask me, so I might as well make them._

"Ugh…" Fire Frenzy hung her head. As much as she had appreciated Marilyn's conversation and helping to sort out her thoughts, she'd had enough of it for the day. There was only so much therapy Frenzy could take. _Though it's nice right? That someone actually took the time to deal with you? Listen, I'm not depressed, stop pushing that shit on me. I keep to myself on purpose. Yeah but now you don't know how to stop do you?_

"Sorry." Marilyn laughed.

"What's your plan anyway Frenzy? I used to work in Central Command. I could help you." Death-iNation had smiled at Marilyn's bad joke and given her a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze at her side. _Zeppelin Rocket had made some important points. If I die, I'll never see her again. But there are some risks that need to be taken, despite our own selfish needs for companionship. Maybe I have more in common with Fire Frenzy than I think I do._

"The computers are on the third floor right? At least that's what the blueprints say… I'm going to break in, I'm going to find Grace and get her out of there safely. Then I'm going to blow the computers and burn the place to the ground." Frenzy shrugged her shoulder as if it was a simple thing to be done. "The only thing you could possibly help me with is if you have some C4 on you that I could borrow. Of course, I could rig something together with the wiring of the computers when I get there but C4 would be much faster. Plus, if I plant some on the supports of the building, it'll help when I set it on fire. I don't want there to be any chance of Better Living getting anything out of that building ever again." Frenzy took a deep breath. Death-iNation was impressed she'd managed to figure out the computer locations on her own.

_If she's that clever all the time then maybe we really do stand a pretty good chance of taking them out._ Nation contemplated what to do from there.

"Still, what or who is Grace and why is she so important?" Marilyn didn't plan on letting Fire Frenzy go out there alone. She'd become rather fond of the quirky girl since they'd met and didn't want to see her get in over her head. While she wasn't the best shot, Marilyn was sneaky as hell. Getting around Battery City at night without being caught by the Dracs and the Exterminators was a skill very few had, but Marilyn had become a professional over the years. When Fire Frenzy didn't respond, Death-iNation tried to fill in the gaps.

"Frenzy feels responsible that the little girl got taken by the Dracs after she was attacked at the movie theater."

"I don't _just_ feel responsible." Frenzy turned away from them both, starting to search Death-iNation's apartment for explosives. She had a feeling that he had some hiding in there somewhere. Any good Killjoy would have a getaway plan and she had a feeling that during a raid he would've rigged this place to blow. "I am returning a favor to the little girl." While Frenzy felt riddled with guilt about the fact that Grace was likely suffering at the hands of Better Living Industries s they spoke, she didn't feel any more responsible for the girl than she did for the kids who had lost their lives in the theater to Destroyer. At least Grace was still alive. She hoped.

"A favor? To a little girl?" Marilyn didn't think it was silly, she was merely curious. The more she spoke with Frenzy, the more she thought the woman was like a knight from a storybook. _We should be the Knights of the Round Table. She'd be Lancelot I think. I'd be Sir Robin if this was the Monty Python version._

"When I was stuck with one of Better Living's experiments in the lobby of the movie theater, she'd taken my flame thrower from my bike and set the fucker on fire. I'd sent her and her little friends away to get to safety when I'd helped them escape just before that. She'd known I was in trouble and she came back for me. I wasn't able to get her out of there. I blacked out and your boyfriend here saved me before I got a chance." Frenzy continued to speak, not looking at either one of them. _Eye contact leads to weakness, and I don't have energy for it._ "She came for me, stupidly, when she shouldn't have. The kid knew she could die and she came for me anyway. That's more than I'd say for most adults in the City." Speaking quietly she continued on. "So even if it messes up all the plans I have for taking Better Living Industries out, I'm going after her and I'm going to save her."

"So you're going to risk your life to save a little girl that you're not even sure is alive, or in that building?" Marilyn Deathrow wasn't trying to sound discouraging, she just wanted to get the facts right.

"Oh, she's in that building." Frenzy scoffed. "If that's where they're keeping IOD then she's there too. She's become leverage. It's likely she's alive and untouched. Look, they may be smart and powerful but they're fucking predictable. I think they underestimate Grace. And I definitely think they underestimate me."

"Well, they definitely underestimate you if they left you alive." Marilyn shook her head, blinking away the mist in her eyes. She'd decided now, she had to help Frenzy. She'd seen too many people on the streets disappear into those buildings and never come back out to stand back and watch it happen again. If Frenzy was strong enough to do it, then so was she.

"You shouldn't just blow the computers." Nation took a deep breath after he'd realized Frenzy didn't have anything left to say on the matter. It was tough to hear about the little girl he'd left behind but there had been no other way to get Fire Frenzy out of there. He'd done what he could at the time and now he'd help her with this.

Patting Marilyn's behind, she got up off of Nation's leg and sat down on the bed. Death-iNation got up and hunched over. He pushed the bed over to the side and pried up a few floorboards beneath the bed. Hidden beneath was the stash of weaponry he had remaining from the years he'd spent in the City. Reaching into the compartment he pulled out several bricks of C4 and offered them to Frenzy along with some detonators and rounds of ammunition for older weapons. When Frenzy and Marilyn both went to speak, he held up a finger to quiet them.

Leaving the room, he headed into the kitchen. Digging in the cabinet next to the stove, he pulled out a case filled with bottles of lighter fluid. He'd been collecting objects he could use to blow the place and had strategically placed them next to the stove so that when he'd leave the gas on and the bomb went off in his bedroom, the whole place would blow with the added accelerant of the lighter fluid aiding it.

"It's a damn shame you're taken, Death-iNation." Frenzy said with a small smile as he came back in with the lighter fluid. Marilyn looked proud to be with the man at that moment.

"I had no idea you were so well prepared."

"Oh come on, I'm much smarter than I look, don't you think?" Death-iNation couldn't hide his smile.

"You are." Marilyn kissed his cheek. Frenzy looked around the room in search of something else.

"Now if you have a bag to carry that all in, that would be great."

"At your service." Nation went to his closet and pulled out an old gym bag. He'd used it to bring in illegal items to work hidden in his gym clothing.

"You were saying something before you went to get this." Frenzy started packing up the ammunition, detonators, lighter fluid, and bricks of C4 as safely as she could do so with such a volatile array of substances. "That I shouldn't just blow the computers… What is it you think I should be doing with them instead?" Now that Frenzy had realized just how clever Death-iNation was, she was willing to listen to any advice that he may have had for her.

"Oh right, that." Nation dug into his nightstand drawer and pulled out a small USB thumb drive. "Better Living is smarter than you think they are. While their computers and file system may be out in the open, I'm sure they have thought about the possibility of people coming in and planting bombs. Plus, if any bit of the hard drive makes it out of the explosion they'll be able to extract the information from it. The best thing you can do is electronically destroy the information. Now, I don't want to brag but I'm a bit of a computer whiz."

"Don't want to brag? He should brag." Marilyn smiled from ear to ear.

"Oh come on, Marilyn…"

"You remember that black out last year? Better Living Industries announced it was caused by the storm that night…" Frenzy nodded to acknowledge that she had, in fact, recalled such a blackout. "That was Nation. He did it from his phone! From his _phone_!" Marilyn repeated to get the point across. "He'd done it in the bar one of the first nights we'd hung out together, I think to impress me probably."

"It was nothing." Nation shrugged his shoulders. "A parlor trick, really."

"Killing the lights for the entire City for sixteen hours is a parlor trick?" Frenzy looked impressed, which was not a look she often shared with anyone.

"Look, it was an easy trick, but also an easy fix for Better Living Industries. All I did was overload a circuit." Nation shrugged once again as if it was nothing. "The only reason it took Better Living Industries more than ten minutes to fix the problem was because they were confused it'd happened at all." Though he was insisting the girls shouldn't be impressed, he couldn't help but smile proudly at what he'd done just to fuck with Better Living Industries. "And it wasn't _only_ to impress you, Marilyn. It'd also been a bad day at work so it was to let off some steam too…"

"Sure, it wasn't _just_ for me." Marilyn leaned her head on Nation's broad shoulder and mouthed, "It was for me," to Frenzy so he couldn't see. Frenzy couldn't help but smile a little bit. Marilyn and Nation made her feel _normal_ which was both confusing and sort of nice. It was like having a conversation with _friends_ which was not something Frenzy had ever really done outside of some drunken conversations with Rainbow Riot in the past.

"As I was saying." Nation laughed, holding up the thumb drive once again. "I've been working on a virus for the last week or so. When I stopped hearing from the Killjoys I was prepared to go out with a big bang. I figured if I could disable Better Living Industries smaller computers, the ones that were easier accessed then I could get out, and get everyone I care about out of here too." Fire Frenzy took the thumb drive, feeling truly in awe of such a thing. "You plug that into the mainframe, put in the password when the prompt asks you too and select all of the drives available then… all the files will be destroyed. Not just destroyed but so scrambled and corrupted that if Better Living Industries even tried to access them it'd fry the motherboard."

"Whoa." Frenzy slipped the thumb drive inside the hidden pocket of her corset. "Thank you… You guys have been very helpful when I know you didn't have to be."

"I want them to go down as much as you do." Nation cleared his throat. "The password is…" Nation cleared his throat once again, slightly embarrassed. "Happy Birthday Mister President." Marilyn laughed under her breath and swatted at Nation's arm, telling him he was sweet underneath his breath. Clearly the Marilyn Monroe reference had been because of the woman on his arm.

"I'm going to go then. I don't want to waste anymore time." Frenzy started toward the door, picking up her flamethrower as she did.

"No, no…" Marilyn started after the girl before Death-iNation had gotten a chance to. "I'm going with you."

"You're what?" Nation opened his eyes wide, partially nervous that she was willing to throw herself into harm's way and also partially proud because he was planning on doing the same thing.

"I'm going with her."

"No one's going with me." Frenzy argued. She wasn't going to let them get killed because she had insane plans.

"Look, you can 't do all of this on your own Frenzy!" Nation argued, much to Marilyn's surprise. "I'm coming too and you can't change our minds. If you try to go without us we'll just follow you. You might as well work with us instead of against us."

"Plus, who is going to take that little girl to safety when you find her? You have a lot to do inside that building and if she's as stubborn and strong as you say she is, then she's not going to leave you alone in there." Marilyn had many other reasons to toss out at Frenzy if she argued much further about it. Plus, Marilyn knew how much Frenzy _loved_ how she could babble about any topic for endless amounts of time. She was hoping if she talked enough, Frenzy would agree to let them join her just to get her to shut up.

"You could get killed." Fire Frenzy sighed, defeated. If they were going to follow her, Nation was right, she might as well use their help. "I don't want to responsible for anyone else's lives. I know what I'm getting myself into."

"You won't be. If we die in the line of duty we'll die doing what we needed to do. I'm not afraid of death." Death-iNation knew that the possibility of dying outweighed the possibility of getting out alive but knew that it took a lot more than a physical wound to kill a person. If they took out Better Living Industries as they planned they'd live forever in that legacy.

"He's right. I'm prepared to die for what we need to do. We can see you're prepared to die too Frenzy. If we can help in anyway then it would've been a life well spent." Marilyn added. "We believe in you." Marilyn and Nation stood awkwardly, waiting for Fire Frenzy's response. Clearly she was internalizing again. _If you end up feeling guilty when they die, then you're going to fuck up. But if they're willing to fight by your side even at the risk of death, then why should you say no? You could last longer in the building with two other people to back you up. Not to mention, Nation worked there for so long. He could be a valuable asset in this fight. Alright, you've convinced us all. Now get the hell out of here!_

"Fine, let's go flirt with suicide." Frenzy nodded toward the door. _You're in over your head. These people are dangerous even if they'll be helpful. Keep up your guard, keep your eyes peeled and don't look back._

"Now that's more like it!" Death-iNation was terrified but also thrilled. Biding their time during these dangerous nights was more agonizing than the thought of death. Marilyn Deathrow and Death-iNation grabbed their guns then started toward the front door of the apartment. Frenzy handed the gym bag off to Nation as he walked out the door and locked the lock on the doorknob of the apartment, unsure if any of them would see it again. As Marilyn Deathrow passed her to walk out into the hallway she stopped and spoke.

"Think about what I said." Marilyn gave the girl's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before following Death-iNation out into the hallway. Frenzy stared at the woman as she walked toward the stairwell of the building and thought about the things they'd discussed.

"I can't." She said after she was sure no one could hear then closed the door behind her. Hurrying down the hall to catch up with her two new companions, Fire Frenzy felt her determination for her goal renewed.

* * *

><p>The wind was whipping sand all around the truck Kobra Kid, Tiger Beatdown and Agent Alpaca had driven out into the desert. It'd been an hour and while they'd joked and caught up for most of it now they were driving in concentrated silence. Searching for this underground facility seemed hopeless to Tiger Beatdown but he was willing to go on even the most hopeless of missions to find Disco Bitch in hopes of returning her to his arms. Kobra seemed just as determined to see that his friend wasn't turned into the mess he'd become.<p>

While driving, Agent Alpaca had noticed something about Kobra Kid. He was pale, which wasn't really odd considering his lineage, but every so often his hands twitched in the oddest of ways. Over the last hour the pale color of his face had faded into something closer to a yellowish tint. Wondering if it was the setting sun shining through the clouds rolling in from the west, Alpaca hadn't mentioned it to any of them but as the day continued and crept into night, even in the dim light he could tell that the man was distinctly a shadow of yellow. _He's clearly not fit to be out on some mission in the middle of the desert. We shouldn't have brought him out here with us. It was irresponsible. We should've just had him draw us a map to go here on our own. We could've brought Black Cherrybomb instead. Even with his head wound he'd be easier to cart around than Kobra. _

"Stop! Stop the truck!" Kobra bounced in his seat, suddenly alert. He'd stopped trying to make conversation some time ago so he could pay attention to the surrounding desert. Of course, it looked all the same no matter where one went to most people. Kobra wasn't most people though, he'd grown up in these sands with Party Poison, the two of them constantly getting into fights and trouble and through it all he'd memorized the eastern zones, at least up until the sixth zone. There'd been a time when he'd been pissed off at Poison and he'd run into the zones to get away from him and he'd run too far into the sixth zone. Poison had gone looking for him and had come and found him, wearing that mouse-cat gas mask he'd rigged up for the occasion. That thing gave him nightmares ever since. It'd taken him three months to get over the poison in his lungs and properly recover.

Ever since that time in his life, when his brother had taken such good care of him, Kobra Kid had been more understanding of his brother's vices and personal struggles. He'd dragged him home drunk and half naked more times than he'd like to admit. _I wish I could've been there for him this last week. He needed me and I betrayed him. It's not an excuse, being brainwashed by Better Living Industries. All I can do is try to make up for what I've done._

And that's what Kobra Kid was going to do. Smacking Tiger Beatdown, who was driving, on his arm he yelled again. "Stop the truck! This is it, stop here!" Tiger looked confused but did as he was told, stopping the truck in the sand. It all looked the same to him but his sense of direction had never been very good. Even if he'd lived out in the eastern sands he probably wouldn't be able to find this place a second time. He felt grateful for Kobra Kid and more confident than ever that he was no longer under whatever mind control Better Living Industries had over him. They'd reminisced too many times in the last hour and had conversations that even Better Living Industries couldn't fake.

"Are you sure?" Agent Alpaca asked after a moment of peering through the window at the sand. There was nothing out there, that much was clear. The sand was blowing into a dusty nightmare around them. Whatever storm was building in the west was only getting worse and worse. It was bound to rain hell upon them before the morning came. Kobra pushed past Agent Alpaca, not patient enough to wait for the man to get out of the car. He tripped over his own feet as he walked and stumbled through the sand.

"It's here, I know it's here! Just come and help me! All this wind has kicked the sand up over the door." Kobra fell to his knees and started brushing sand off of the ground. Agent Alpaca and Tiger Beatdown left the truck and watched Kobra Kid like he was out of his mind. They exchanged knowing glances and Tiger warily approached Kobra, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Are you sure? Kobra they really messed with your head… Is it possible that you don't exactly remember where it is?" Tiger Beatdown would hate for that to be true. This was his only chance to find and save Disco Bitch when she most needed him. But he'd noticed the steady decline in the physical state of Kobra Kid while they'd been driving as well and now Tiger wasn't so sure it had been the best idea to let the man come with them out into the desert. He could die out there leading them to nothing at all and it'd be a terrible waste.

"Don't comfort me like I'm some stupid kid, Tiger! It's out here. I came out here to get some air. Party Poison had done something stupid again and I had to clean up the mess he made so I came out here to have a smoke and get away before I yelled at him like an idiot and… and then I found these big doors… When I finally uncovered them I heard a voice and got knocked out. But I know it was here, they can't take that memory away from me." Kobra kept crawling on his knees, searching for the metallic door beneath the sand.

"Kobra Kid…" Agent Alpaca was ready to tell the man he was probably out of his mind. The memory could be falsely planted by Better Living Industries as another distraction to the Killjoys to keep them away from camp. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? Now they were miles from the camp and everyone could be in danger left in the hands of that green haired fuck, Phoenix Fury, who surely wouldn't be able to handle an ambush.

Tiger Beatdown crouched and started helping Kobra Kid with the sand. Alpaca's shoulders slumped in frustration. "Come on guys, there's nothing here except for sand!" Alpaca walked around them both to face them and stopped as his footsteps against the sand changed. There was something beneath his feet that was metallic, making an echoed sound even against the howl of the sand around them. The three of them exchanged glances and Alpaca dropped to his knees to help and move the sand from beneath where he stood.

Soon enough the three of them had uncovered a large metallic door. Standing up the three Killjoys walked to the front of it and stared. Agent Alpaca was in complete disbelief. He'd been convinced that Kobra Kid had been out of his mind but it turned out he wasn't. There was clearly a big metallic door on the ground with large letters reading A-WEB spray painted across the front of it.

"What the hell is it?"

"_This_ is it." Kobra answered Alpaca's inquiry simply. "This is where they took me. This is where they changed me. If you think Disco Bitch was taken by them then this is where she'll be."

"It makes sense. Black Cherrybomb said that he'd found her out in the desert somewhere around here." Tiger Beatdown was terrified to open the door but Kobra Kid seemed thirsty for vengeance. Hurrying forward, Kobra pulled and grabbed at the door but it wouldn't budge. Tiger and Alpaca were soon enough helping to try and open the door but it still held fast despite the combined strength of the three men.

"Fuck." Alpaca stood up after his arms grew tired of pulling. "It's probably locked or bolted from the other side, how the hell are we supposed to get in now?"

"Did you bring any explosives? We'll blow our way in if we have to." Kobra Kid seemed determined. He was the only one still pulling on the door to try and get it open. Agent Alpaca and Tiger Beatdown were trying to think of a better approach than tugging. They were going to waste all of their effort and energy opening the damn door only to be ambushed by Dracs and killed at this rate.

"I guess we could blow the door, but that'd be letting them know we're here without any other plan of attack." Tiger started back toward the truck to see what sorts of supplies they had on them. He knew they'd packed a bag of guns and such but he wasn't sure about the explosives. Kobra Kid stopped tugging on the door and ran to catch up with them at the truck.

"They probably already know we're here." Kobra explained. "They must have known I was out here when I was walking around and initially caught a couple of weeks back. I'm guessing they have some kind of surveillance set up."

"But with this sandstorm blowing around and only getting worse it's possible that their surveillance is compromised. We could still have the element of surprise if we can just get in that door without blowing it up." Tiger contemplated. As Agent Alpaca went to respond all three of them froze, hearing a horrible creaking sound from behind them. Silence, minus the wind and sand whirling around them, followed. The three turned to see the door behind them open, nothing but darkness staring back at them from within.

Just as Tiger Beatdown went to comment on the suspicious circumstances, Kobra Kid hushed him. There was a sound carrying on the wind other than the sand being whirled around them. It sounded like a hiss, the sound of steam escaping and it was familiar to the blond and sickly looking Killjoy.

"Oh no…" Kobra furrowed his brow in recognition. It was painful to hear so he covered his ears and turned away from the door. "Oh no, oh no…" Repeating it over and over Kobra couldn't face what was coming. Alpaca and Tiger stepped forward, both defensively, with their hands on their guns waiting to see what was coming out of the doors. Whatever it was terrified Kobra Kid into some kind of fit. He was muttering nonsensically behind them about spiders and strings. The hissing grew louder and was accompanied by the clanking of metal against metal.

"Holy shit…" Agent Alpaca stared slack jawed as a long metallic arm emerged from the open door in the ground. A second followed and soon six more were joining them, supporting a corpse like woman with elongated limbs and a pale face stitched together poorly. Long black hair caught in the wind, making the hybrid creature look even more haunting. Without warning or any kind of introduction the metallic spider started at them. "Run!" Alpaca shouted and rolled to the side in the sand just in time to escape the spider woman's claws digging into the ground behind him. Widow swiped at him with her sharp metallic leg and though his hood tore from the contact he sustained no damage.

Tiger ran around the side of the truck and ducked onto the ground, aiming his gun and shooting at the woman. The bolts hit her body but all she did was tremble from the impact. She hadn't even immediately bled, but after a moment of watching, coagulated chunks of blood and fluid poured from the wounds. The corpse controlling the metallic spider seemed unaffected by the blows. Cursing under his breath, Tiger hurried to his feet and narrowly dodged the metallic feet as they shot at him, repeatedly stabbing the spot in the sand where he'd once laid.

"Stand still!" The woman hissed but turned to face Kobra Kid who was still muttering about her. Kobra turned to face her and leaned against the back of the truck, staring in terror at his tormentor. _She was in my head, she was in my head, can she still get in there?_ Kobra couldn't move. He was transfixed by the woman and the hell she'd put him through. "Little puppet…" Widow saw his fear and grinned wickedly, the split in her skin lengthening at the stretching of her skin. Raising her two front legs the ends separated into three separate claw-like fingers. Something shuddered on her back, and Kobra yelled for help.

"Oh god! Don't let her do it again! Don't let her!" Kobra screamed and sprang into action, shoving at the woman but his body was too weak to fight very hard and his pushes merely nudged her only slightly.

Agent Alpaca shot at the joints of the woman's elongated legs in hopes of knocking them apart but the laser from his gun merely reflected off of the metal and bounced back at him. Not giving up, Alpaca put his gun back in its holster, grabbed a handful of sand and jumped in front of Kobra Kid as the woman's claws came down. Alpaca shouted in pain but in the same moment threw the sand in the face of the Widow. She howled in misery and her corpse like arms reached up in an attempt to wipe the painful substance from her eyes. Something white and awful was dripping onto Alpaca's arms from Widow's claws, burning at his skin. He was bleeding from one shoulder but luckily the second claw had merely grazed his other arm.

Tiger Beatdown had seen what Agent Alpaca had been planning and had slipped behind Widow and when she'd lurched back from Alpaca's surprise attack with the sand he'd jumped onto her back in an attempt to throw her off. He grabbed at her arms to keep her from wiping her eyes and the machine lurched further backwards, bucking like a horse to try and throw Tiger off of her. Shrieking in misery and annoyance, Widow began trying to stab at the man on her back blindly with her front legs. Tiger did his best to avoid the blows, but would have bailed if any of them had come too close for comfort.

Alpaca turned to face Kobra Kid who was as pale as he'd ever seen. "Kobra! Are you okay? Did she hurt you?" Grabbing onto the taller man's face he forced him to look at him. "Kobra! You don't have to listen to her anymore, get it together! We need you!" Whatever Alpaca had said had seemed to do the trick. Kobra Kid snapped out of his terrified stupor and nodded his head.

"You're bleeding!" Kobra cursed and immediately put his hands over the bloodied wound on Agent Alpaca's shoulder in an attempt to get it to stop. Alpaca winced from the contact of Kobra's sweaty hands on his wound.

"It's nothing I can't handle! Get your gun! Any ideas on how to stop her? You've clearly me this bitch before!"

"You can't stop her! She's already dead!" Kobra cursed and peeked around Agent Alpaca for a glance at Widow who had finally managed to get her claws on Tiger Beatdown. Tiger aimed his gun at the woman and kept firing repeatedly at the joint of the arm that held him, despite the fact that he knew the lasers would merely reflect off of it. He hoped if he kept shooting that eventually the joint would weaken and give. Thrashing he refused to stay still which was pissing Widow off to no end.

"Well when you kill zombies you aim for the head right?" Alpaca shouted, afraid for his friend in the Widow's clutches. He aimed his gun, saw that Kobra was too and they both aimed for the woman's head. The machine fell back quiet for a moment after the blow, dropping Tiger Beatdown in the process who landed with a puff of dirt and sand in the desert. They thought for a fleeting moment that the Widow had died.

Kobra and Alpaca hurried to assist Tiger off of the ground but as they reached him the machine hissed back to life despite the gaping holes in the head of the woman controlling the metallic body.

"What the hell? That works in every zombie movie! I feel lied to!" Agent Alpaca yelled in frustration. Kobra Kid was weak in the knees and not because of the fear of the metallic woman in front of him. Alpaca had helped him come to terms with that. He had to keep fighting no matter the circumstances but something within his body was changing. Falling to his knees Tiger and Alpaca immediately reached to help Kobra Kid off of the ground.

"Are you okay?" Tiger yelled over the sandstorm as the Widow gained her bearings and seemed to contemplate whether it was worth coming after them or not.

"Leave me!" Kobra shoved at Tiger and Alpaca, much to their surprise. He crawled away from them, back toward the truck. "I'm just a distraction!" Kobra coughed and gagged, leaning over the sand as the world spun around him. His heart seemed not to be beating fast enough and he became light headed. The two men from the west had no choice but to listen to Kobra Kid and face the Widow.

"What is it doing?" Agent Alpaca decided to listen to Kobra Kid. His shoulder was throbbing and Tiger Beatdown was scuffed up and looked flustered. The white material on Alpaca's arms was burning but there was little he could do about it at this point so he ignored the uncomfortable sensation. He tried once more to wipe it off with his glove but it stuck fast like glue to his skin.

"It's thinking about if it should come after us or not." Tiger whispered and watched as the Widow disappeared in the sand, descending back within the facility hidden beneath the door which she left open behind her.

"You know it's a trap to follow it in there right?" Alpaca coughed spitting out a mouthful of sand from the storm, which had become more violent during the fight.

"We're going after her anyway." Tiger whispered then turned around to let Kobra Kid know what they were doing next. "Shit! Kobra!" Tiger ran over to the truck at the sight of his friend lying on his stomach, having some sort of shaking fit on the ground. Agent Alpaca turned and ran after him. Kobra's skin was more yellow than it had been before and on a hunch, Alpaca lifted Kobra Kid's shirt after Tiger had turned him onto his back. "Wake up! Kobra snap out of it! Stop it! Alpaca, what's happening to him?" Tiger looked desperately to his friend, trying to hold Kobra still on the ground and keep him from thrashing too much and hurting himself on accident.

"Tiger, look." Alpaca acknowledged the purple and brown bruise spreading across Kobra's abdomen. Tiger stopped trying to hold Kobra still upon seeing the marking on his skin. Something had failed inside of Kobra Kid's body, the bruise was the tell tale sign of some kind of sepsis.

"Shit…" Tiger Beatdown pushed his sweaty and filthy hair out of his face and stared as Kobra's fit seemed to end. The man looked barely alive but blinked his eyes open and stared at his two comrades.

"You have to go inside and find her." Kobra whispered, coughing and gagging on something that was caught in his throat. "Go after her…" Shaking his head desperately he felt his fingers going numb, the tingling followed by nothingness.

"No, we can't let you die out here, we have to get you back to camp! Jet-Star can save you!" Alpaca shouted, looking over at Tiger who seemed to be contemplating listening to Kobra Kid. "No man left behind Tiger, no man! You're out of your mind if you think we're just going to leave him here!"

"And what about Disco?" Tiger whispered. "We came out here to save her, all of us and now we're going to back down? I would want you to continue even if the tables were turned! Even if it was me lying on the ground like this, I would want you to keep going!"

"He's right Alpaca!" Kobra coughed and sputtered blood over his lips in the process. The something caught in his throat had finally escaped and poured from his lips afterward. Blood mixed with the white substance similar to that on Alpaca's arm were pouring from his lips. Alpaca winced at the idea of this corrosive sticky material having been eating away at Kobra's insides this whole time until finally there was nothing left keeping him alive.

"But Kobra…" Agent Alpaca knew there was nothing they could do. Kobra weakly lifted his arms and put one on each of his friends' shoulders, looking at them seriously. There was so much he wanted to say, but he had very little strength left to say it.

"Thank you both." Kobra Kid knew they'd helped him redeem himself before this moment. Something inside of him had known that this moment was coming after he'd woken up in the infirmary days prior. He hadn't felt right in weeks and he'd noticed the bruising and managed to hide it from Jet-Star since he knew the man would have kept closer tabs on him if he had known about it.

"Don't waste your energy." Tiger Beatdown helped Alpaca move Kobra Kid's arms back to his side since the man didn't seem to have the willpower or the strength to do it himself. His breathing was shallow and slow and only getting slower as time passed. Tiger felt for his pulse, fingers at the side of his neck and felt it skipping, slowing down. It was clear what was going to happen next.

"Don't fucking tell me what to do, asshole…" Kobra smiled despite the pain he felt riddling his insides. The darkness was creeping in on his vision but he had one more thing to say before he let go. "…do me one favor, will you?"

"Anything." Alpaca answered, crouched on the opposite side of Kobra Kid's long lanky body now.

"Kill those fuckers."

"I promise." Alpaca nodded, vision obscured by what he would never admit was tears.

"We promise." Tiger assured the man on the ground. Kobra smiled and closed his eyes. Silence followed, minus the wind howling behind them and a fierce growl of thunder in the distance. Staring at the pale lifeless body of the man that had once been their friend, neither Alpaca nor Tiger knew what to say because they both knew there were no words to express the sorrow they both felt. Without a word Tiger and Alpaca got to their feet and slowly picked up the body of Kobra Kid. Laying it in the back of the truck, they covered the body with a blanket and pulled his dog tags off of him.

Tiger handed the dog tags to Agent Alpaca who stared down at them sadly. He wondered why he would be the one to carry them but didn't ask questions. Instead he put the necklace around his own neck and nodded toward the open door likely containing their death. Tiger nodded his own head to agree and walked over to the edge of the door. There were no stairs to help them descend.

"You should turn back. Bring Kobra back to camp so they could bury him properly and Poison can get to say goodbye." Tiger didn't look back up at Agent Alpaca as he spoke darkly, intending on ending this on his own.

"No way." Alpaca offered a sad but reassuring smile. "You think that you're going to walk to the edge of death without me?" Shaking his head he pointed to the darkness below. "You'd get yourself killed in ten minutes." Without letting Tiger Beatdown argue, Agent Alpaca jumped down into the darkness below, landing with a thud on the metallic ground beneath him. "Ouch." Tiger couldn't help but laugh at the sound of his friend hurting himself on the way down. While his eyes were still burning with tears from watching Kobra Kid depart, he knew the best way to honor his friend's death was to celebrate the life he still had. So with a deep breath, one last glance at the truck that contained the body of his fallen comrade, Tiger Beatdown jumped into the darkness to join Agent Alpaca.

When he'd landed, he stumbled on his feet and dropped to his knees so his ankles wouldn't have to absorb all of the shock from the impact. Alpaca was pulling apart a flare so they could see.

"What, no lights in this place?" Tiger asked as he rose to his full height.

"Not that I can see. Come on." Alpaca started down a set of stairs. For a Draculoid facility in the middle of the desert it seemed completely devoid of Dracs in general. Tiger and Alpaca felt the tension rise at the idea that perhaps something was terribly wrong within the facility other than the fact that there was a horrific monster in a spider suit running around.

As they descended further into the facility Alpaca let go of the flare, finding that the halls were covered in some kind of substance resembling spider web. Alpaca had a feeling it was the same corrosive material on his arm and the same that had burst out of Kobra Kid's throat during his dying moments. Shuddering Alpaca closed his eyes. It was an image he would never forget, the writhing body of his friend in pain on the ground.

"What the hell happened down here…?" Tiger whispered what they were both thinking, not expecting any real answer.

"Fuck, I don't know but I'm guessing this was not a part of Better Living Industries' plan." Agent Alpaca nudged open a web covered door with his foot and turned immediately away from the sight he found to cough and gag in disgust. Spitting out what had come up in his gagging, he leaned upward. Tiger stared at him, and Alpaca shook his head to tell him not to look. Of course, curiosity got the better of Tiger Beatdown and he pushed the door open further. Inside were a number of operating tables, all soaked in blood. The walls were covered in the same webbing as the hallway. It looked like it had once been some kind of experimental operating room but now it was some kind of feeding chamber for the Widow. At least that's what it looked like to Tiger.

Hanging in the middle of the room in a mass of web were the tattered remains of multiple Dracs, torn to pieces and sucked dry of the little blood they had left. Tiger covered his mouth and turned away, closing the door. They didn't need to look at that. Clearly something had gone very wrong within the facility and with the Widow. Pulling his gun from its holster again, Tiger started down the hallway. Agent Alpaca followed along in silence, both peeking reluctantly within each room they passed to find similar sights to what they'd found in the first room though they'd found several bodies of people who looked like they might have once been Killjoys as they moved further and further within the facility.

"Wait." Tiger stopped as they turned a corner and held his arm out to the side to signal Agent Alpaca to stop as well. Alpaca was about to ask why they'd stopped when he saw the shadow at the end of the hall, standing above a staircase. There was someone there, watching them and listening. Slowly the figure moved forward and though Alpaca was relieved that it wasn't the Widow coming after them he couldn't help but reminded of any number of George Romero flicks. He waited for a horde of zombies to emerge from the darkness.

As the figure moved closer into the flickering lights overhead, Tiger audibly gasped at what he saw.

"Disco!" Without a second thought Tiger put his gun back in the holster and ran down the hall to the woman at the end. Agent Alpaca wasn't as relieved as his friend was and kept his gun out. Something didn't seem right. "Disco! I thought you were dead! I came for you regardless!" Tiger ran to the end of the hall and threw his arms around the woman, practically lifting her off of the ground. She looked worse for wear and distant. He didn't care, he'd found her and she was living still. Burying his head against the side of her neck he planted a kiss against her skin and furrowed his brow. "Disco…"

"Tiger, maybe you should back off…" Agent Alpaca didn't want to offend his friend but he couldn't get the sinking feeling that something was amiss out of the pit of his stomach. Besides that, Disco Bitch looked stiff and awkward as though she didn't know how to respond to being hugged.

Ignoring his friend he still held Disco Bitch tightly until he felt her return his embrace. She slipped her arms around his shoulders and held him close and it felt damn good to finally have her arms back around him.

When the stabbing pain of a knife in the back of his shoulder hit him he was completely thrown off.

"Tiger!" Alpaca ran after his friend at the end of the hall, holding his gun aimed at Disco Bitch. Tiger shoved the woman off of him and stumbled backward, seeing her face in the light for the first time. Her eyes were empty and her head twitched to the side. Agent Alpaca grabbed Tiger Beatdown and tugged him further from the woman, aiming his gun at her head. "Don't fucking move!"

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><p>Party Poison knew that dying his hair back to black was for a good cause but he couldn't stop dwelling on it either. He missed it being red, he missed standing out and being loud and obnoxious. Having to be responsible was so damn boring but with any luck, soon enough, he could be back to pushing limits and getting himself into stupidly dangerous situations. Granted this was a stupidly dangerous situation but he wasn't having much fun anymore. In fact, he was just downright worried. Nerves shot from lack of sleep and the sound of gunshots over the last few days, Poison had become paranoid.<p>

The feeling only increased as he went into the City with Rainbow Riot. They'd spent an hour sneaking past the gate, almost getting caught. Poison had to shoot a Drac between the eyes and though his moral compass was still nagging at him with guilt he couldn't help but get a cheap thrill at the act of taking a life. Sometimes he thought he was more fucked up than he let on, and that was saying something. There were moments where he even felt he could be a pretty damn good serial killer if his life had taken a different course.

Leading the way to Death-iNation's apartment in the City was far easier than he'd expected. For some reason it was easier to sneak around without the red hair and though he knew the obvious answer was that he no longer stood out he doubted that with his bright blue jacket on and Rainbow Riot's still bright red hair. They were clearly Killjoys which were frowned upon in the City regardless of their status. There was something huge that was distracting Better Living Industries from the hunt for Killjoys. He wasn't sure what it was but he was grateful for it and annoyed by it at the same time. There was still that blood lust in his mind and he'd partially hoped to run into some trouble.

Something felt off to Party Poison and while he wasn't sure what that something was, he knew he had to be on his guard. But surprisingly, to both him and Riot there had been nothing to fear upon their journey to the sleeper cell's apartment. Poison checked the back door stair well before letting Rainbow Riot join him. If there was any sign of danger she could fall back while he took the brunt of it. At least if he died there he would've protected someone in all of this and not felt like a total ass. _Though I'd sure hate to die with my hair still this stupid boring color._ It was trivial but he just didn't feel like himself without his red hair.

"This is where your sleeper cell lived?" Rainbow Riot followed Party Poison up the stairs of the apartment complex, scrutinizing the building as she did and not seeming very impressed by his choice of hiding places.

"There are several secret entrances and exits to this building. I did my homework before I sent him in here you know. We rigged the apartment he purchased with multiple hidden rooms and an exit to the floors above and below. We also hid equipment on the roof and in the basement for a speedy escape in case he was found out by Dracs and needed to get away. His living quarters are decorated just like any other underpaid Better Living employee. If he had to invite people from the company over he could still do so without arousing suspicion." Party Poison sounded bored as he explained. He was incredibly tired of defending his intelligence and decisions.

"Wow you really thought this out didn't you?"

"After all this you still think I'm a big fucking idiot right? Well, I'm tired of everyone thinking I'm some dumb fuck with a gun. I'm not. I'm fucking smarter than I am strong so stop fucking assuming I'm not and trust me alright?" Party Poison opened the door onto the floor of Death-iNation's apartment and held it for Riot after being sure no one was in the hallway and it was safe to continue onward.

"I wasn't assuming you were an idiot I was just impressed this was as thought out as it was. I wouldn't have thought of a roof exit or a secret way out of the apartment itself. I would've just thought out different plans of attack."

"Some strategist you are, then. Fire Frenzy should reconsider her opinion of you." Poison scoffed and brushed his hand against his nose to itch it. Rainbow Riot rolled her eyes, not offended by Party Poison's jab since she held his opinion as pretty second rate. He'd been acting like an asshole ever since he'd gotten used to his black hair again. He'd cheer up momentarily then pout again when he caught sight of his reflection. Eventually his sour mood had settled in completely. She was sure it was some kind of tantrum he was throwing about having to change it back and had decided to deal with any jabs he took at her without retaliation. Walking up to the apartment Poison knocked on the door and stood back, hand on his gun just in case. There was no response after waiting for a moment and Poison unclenched.

"I guess he's not home." Rainbow Riot shrugged her shoulders.

"Well duh." Party Poison tried the doorknob and attempted to gaze in through the peephole in the door. Unfortunately he didn't catch sight of anything through the hole. Looking around to make sure no one else was watching Poison rammed his shoulder into the door.

"Is your plan just to break through every locked door we meet?" Rainbow Riot, who had once again been pulling bobby pins out of her hair in an attempt to pick the lock, sighed in frustration as she watched Party Poison ram his shoulder into the door again. Poison urged her to stand back and kicked at the door hard. The wood splintered around the doorknob and with a second kick the door caved and flew back on its hinges.

"Yes." Party Poison decided he didn't need to answer further. The way they were bickering back and forth was making him think of things he wasn't ready to think about so he chose to answer simply to prevent further arguing. "Okay, so I didn't expect this." Poison glanced around in search of Nation but the place looked abandoned. Rainbow Riot left his side and looked around the two room apartment. Party Poison on the other hand searched for the hidden door he knew would have Nation's real bedroom and all of his Killjoy information. Maybe the man was hiding out in case of a raid and had hidden when he'd heard the knock on the door.

Or he could even be at work, but something told him that Death-iNation would have abandoned his post after not having heard from Party Poison for a week. _Or the Dracs could've forced him into hiding after taking over at the camp. Who knows what information was compromised? The poor guy could be dead for all I know. A damn shame too, he's the best fucking sleeper cell we've ever had. He's probably the only Killjoy I've seen who can pass for normal. I mean he's as fucked up as the rest of us are but even the way he talks about it he's just… collected._

"It smells like someone just had coffee in here not too long ago. Maybe he just ran some errands or something?" Rainbow Riot called from the kitchen. Party Poison continued to ignore her, finding the hidden seam of the door against the wall. Pushing it hard he heard a click coming from the mechanism inside of the wall and the door unlocked and popped open. He could smell blood coming from the dark room on the other side of the doorway. Grimacing, Poison held the book light up again and surveyed the room. There was no sign of blood on the floor or on the sheets, but he could still smell it. Stepping into the room he shined the light over the plans and blueprints spread out across the bed.

"Would you stop it with that thing already?" Rainbow Riot laughed as she walked into the room behind him and flipped the light switch, flooding the room with light. Party Poison mocked a hissing sound and turned off his book light, shoving it back into the pocket of his jacket.

"You're no fun." Party Poison looked around and his eyes fell on an orange and red colored nightgown. He wasn't sure _why_ he thought it was important, it just seemed like it might be. Walking over to where it was draped over the nightstand next to the bed, Poison picked it up, brushing his thumbs over the material. It seemed familiar, somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Poison." Rainbow Riot's voice no longer mocked him but instead sounded serious. She picked up the red jacket that she recognized as Fire Frenzy's and held it up to show him. It was torn and tattered in several places and stained with blood. Surely that and the bathroom were the sources of the smell they'd both become frightened of. Turning to face Riot, Poison froze at the sight of the jacket. What did it mean? _Did Death-iNation find her dead? If so where is she now? I can't be too late! I came into the City! I'm fighting for her for some ungodly reason and she better not be dead before I get to find her damnit!_ Rainbow Riot seemed to share his thoughts and hung her head, holding the jacket close to her in mourning.

"Wait a minute." Poison looked at the plans spread out across the bed again and then down at the red nightgown he held in his hand. "No, no… She's not dead. Just hurt… Death-iNation must have found her before anything got too bad. Look at this stuff… Does any of it look familiar?" Poison acknowledged the blueprints on the bed. He scattered them across the sheets to try and find where the building they belonged to was located within the City. Heart skipping a beat as he realized it was Central Command, Poison knew exactly what was happening. The pieces in his mind were finally put together. It hadn't been much of a mystery, he'd just never had all of the pieces in the first place so the image he'd come up with had always been unfinished and vague.

"What are they planning? Do you think your man went with her?" Riot was still wary about the idea of Fire Frenzy possibly having checked out but was willing to listen to Party Poison's argument to the contrary. She supposed that if there was any chance of Vengeful Venom being still alive she would insist upon it as well. Matters of the heart were far more complicated than anything else.

"They're going to break into Central Command. Death-iNation must have known what Fire Frenzy has been searching for all this time. When she talked to him she connected the dots. We've got to go to this building." Party Poison finally looked up at Rainbow Riot and narrowed his eyes. "Fire Frenzy's about to do something really stupid, Riot. We've got to stop her."

"You want us to break into Central Command to chase after Fire Frenzy? We're going to get ourselves killed, you do know that right?" Rainbow Riot felt gripped by fear. She would likely lose her life and the life of her unborn child in the upcoming fight.

"If you don't want to come I understand." Party Poison wasn't sure Rainbow Riot was up to the task to begin with.

"No Poison, I'm coming with you. It's possible that's where Vengeful Venom is being held too… and if he's not, I'm sure there are records there on where we can find him. It's dangerous but we can do it if we put our minds to it and stick together." Rainbow Riot sounded more confident than she felt. She was a strategist not a warrior and she wasn't sure Party Poison was the best fighter either. She'd seen him in action and had decided he was hasty, cocky, and better with his fists than with a gun. But what other choice did they have? If she didn't go with him he'd go by himself and he'd surely get killed that way. Without someone watching his back, he wouldn't last more than five minutes in Central Command.

"I could really use you there honestly, so I'm glad you feel that way." Party Poison cleared his throat and puffed out his chest, looking determined. "Come on, we don't have any time to lose. The sun's coming up soon and the Dracs are going to be back on patrol in full force before we know it. Something tells me we're running out of time and better get moving." Party Poison started out of the room when he realized he was still holding the nightgown in his left hand. Why didn't he want to let it go? It was just a nightgown. He contemplated the reasons in his head for a moment and smiled after a moment upon realizing why. _I bet you anything this was Frenzy's. It could be the last thing I get from her. _Shoving it in his pocket he decided to keep it just in case he never saw her again.


	35. Sick or Sane

Phoenix Fury had been watching the plane in the sky slowly descend toward the Killjoy camp and had men set ready to fire it out of the darkening sky if it proved to be a spy of some kind from the Draculoids. It hadn't been as terrifying stepping into the shoes of Party Poison as Phoenix had expected it to be. It seemed in times of crisis the Killjoys were willing to step up to the plate and work together despite whether or not they liked their leader just as Party Poison had told Phoenix they would. He found it strangely not comforting that Party Poison had been right about this fact.

This plane though was something he was unsure of how to handle. Paranoid after all the rotten sabotage the Draculoids had managed under his nose in the last week, Phoenix Fury was wary of it to say the least. He'd sent Cosmic Karma and Detonation Punx to check out the plane and offer it safe landing next to the camp since it seemed to be headed toward them anyway. When he'd brought it up initially, Captain Phantom and Commander Cutlass had ripped him a new one for offering what could possibly be another decoy from Better Living Industries safe haven.

Now as Phoenix watched the plane descend he knew they couldn't be right about that. It was stupid to assume that everyone coming from the City had poor intentions. Even most of the Dracs weren't completely under Better Living's spell, a lot of them were just stupid kids who craved violence after years of it being repressed in the City. It wasn't until the Dracs got older and started to catch wise to what was wrong with Better Living's approach to things that they were drugged.

On the off chance that the pilot of the plane was seeking refuge, Phoenix had decided to offer it an area to land outside of the eastern camp and to have the two armed women greet it in case the person flying was indeed hostile. He wasn't going to trust a stranger immediately but he also wasn't going to shoot them out of the sky simply because those around him were suspicious. This was his chance to redeem himself and he wasn't going to let pressure from the two pirates force him into the wrong decision. As much as Phoenix disliked Party Poison he'd found his new mantra "what would Party Poison do?" was working out pretty well for him in this particular situation.

While giving orders he'd received some curses and insults but the Killjoys over all had _listened_ to what he'd asked of them despite their objections. As he stood outside of the front gates of the eastern camp, lost in his thoughts as he watched the plane head toward the makeshift runway on the desert sand, someone tapped the back of his shoulder to get his attention. Phoenix turned to find out who needed him.

Fun Ghoul, looking sufficiently dwarfed next to Phoenix Fury, was covered in dirt and looked exhausted. Phoenix looked pleased to see him. He'd sent the man with a small army over to the western zones with plans to take back the camp that had once been run by Tiger Beatdown. It looked as though Fun Ghoul was proud of what he'd done but had gotten in quite the fight in the process, judging by the amount of dirt on his clothes.

"How'd it go?"

"We took it back." Fun Ghoul smirked proudly, white teeth shining behind his dirt covered face. "It's raining like all fuck out there though." Ghoul spit a mouthful of dirt to the side then wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "It's heading this way, slow as hell though. I'd start warning people in a little bit to tie down anything they value."

"Good job." Phoenix clasped a hand on the smaller man's shoulder and Fun Ghoul looked at him skeptically as if to let him know that they weren't friends and he didn't want to be treated as such. Pulling his hand back, Phoenix folded his arms over his chest awkwardly. "How many people did you bring back with you? Were there a lot of injured people from when my men took over?"

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Fun Ghoul smirked and upon seeing the look of curiosity on Phoenix Fury's face he started back into the camp. Phoenix followed quickly and was astonished at the amount of Killjoys that had been brought back from the other camp. "Two hundred men armed and ready followed me back. Turns out they're smarter than they let on. They didn't believe a word the Dracs were spreading about their leader. It took them all night but they took the camp back themselves and killed the Dracs. It seemed as though they didn't subscribe to Party Poison's No Killing rule. When the Dracs were exposed your men quickly joined up with those at the Western camp. So everyone's here, ready to fight." Fun Ghoul chuckled.

"So you didn't have to use any of the plans I came up with then, huh?" Phoenix Fury smirked, finding it almost funny that he'd spent so long on the damn plans to take back a base that he'd been in charge of taking down in the first place only to find that his initial plans hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped. He was partially glad that at least some of his men weren't following his orders so blindly. Now that he'd seen what it was like to lead such a large group of people he could tell how important good judgment was.

"They were good plans and all but we were greeted with open arms when we arrived so..." Fun Ghoul wiped more of the dirt off of his face, almost like a nervous habit. "So whenever you figure out our next steps, these guys are ready to move out. Jet-Star is taking a look at their wounded with Neon Rocket. None of them got it as badly as we did so it looks like we'll have at least another two dozen on our hands when Jet-Star's done with them." Fun Ghoul was proud of the work that he'd done.

"Man, you coming to me covered in dirt made me think that you had one hell of a fight on your hands when you made it over there." Phoenix Fury smirked, observing the large troop of people milling about the Killjoy camp that was clearly way too small for this many members. No wonder Party Poison had split them up into two separate camps. This many people living in close corridors like this was asking for violence to break out.

"Nope, just the sandstorm that is coming before this damn storm is a beast. It hit us on the way back… and well, you can probably guess how it affected us." Fun Ghoul continued to wipe the dirt off of his face. It bothered him to be this filthy considering he was probably the only Killjoy that cared about his level of cleanliness.

"Well, send the word out. Prepare for the sandstorm and for the rain as well." Phoenix nodded his head. He figured it was the best course of action though he wasn't sure what the procedure was for bad weather in this camp. He guessed they'd lock down the buildings and wait it out in case the rain was acidic.

"I saw that plane out there on the way in." Fun Ghoul followed Phoenix Fury rather than following his orders. He'd get to telling the people in the camp later, but right now he wanted to know what was going on with the plane that had been preparing to land overhead. "What's going on with that thing?"

"I'm not sure yet. I sent Detonation Punx and Cosmic Karma to welcome whoever it was. Hopefully they're not treating him too roughly."

"Punx might be a problem but I'm sure that Karma's at least level headed enough to keep them both in check." Fun Ghoul nodded his head, seemingly approving of the way Phoenix Fury was handling this newest development. "Look, these people know how to handle a sandstorm without me guiding them, I'm sure that we could send out a warning and all but the two hundred fifty people I came back with all knew it was coming so I'm sure the word has spread by now. It'd be a waste of energy for me to go around telling everyone."

"Fine, if you really want to see what's going on with the plane then you can come. But all you had to do was ask you know." Phoenix rolled his eyes. Surely, Fun Ghoul could've just requested to follow along, but no, he had to come up with a reason as to why the task Phoenix Fury had assigned to him was one not worthy of his time.

"Thanks." Fun Ghoul was compulsively wiping away dirt from his skin now, though his efforts didn't do much to make him look less like a mummy. He'd also chosen to ignore the second comment Phoenix had made.

Phoenix started back out of the camp again without another word and was surprised when a tall handsome man came toward him, walking quickly with purpose. Cosmic Karma and Detonation Punx were trailing behind him, Punx yelling for the man to slow down and trying to catch up so she could stop him.

"Who the hell are you?" Phoenix asked the man in the bomber jacket as he approached, assuming the man had once been piloting the plane.

"Out of my way, I need to speak to Party Poison, it's urgent."

"Whoa, hold on a second. You're not walking past me." Phoenix Fury held a hand in front of the pilot and narrowed his eyes. The man was persistent but Phoenix Fury was built like a brick wall so he was positive he could stop the man in his tracks if he wanted. The pilot seemed to realize this fact as well and didn't put up a fight.

"Look I don't have time to dick around with Killjoy security. I've got a message from Death-iNation and Fire Frenzy. It's urgent and I was told to ask for Party Poison and since I know he's scrawny and has red hair and a get fucked attitude, I'm guessing he's not _you_ so my message isn't for you and I'd appreciate you getting out of my way." The pilot looked tired and jittery.

"Party Poison isn't here. I'm in charge now so you'll have to talk to me. I'm Phoenix Fury." Phoenix extended a hand to the pilot in hopes he would drop his hasty act and give him the information he had for Party Poison.

"He's telling the truth." Fun Ghoul, who had once again been dwarfed by Phoenix Fury, peeked out from behind the man. "Poison's not here, he's off doing something in the City. So he left this beefy thing in charge for some reason." Fun Ghoul smiled as he spoke, clearly joking about Phoenix Fury since he knew the man could easily pick him up and toss him around like a rag doll. "I'm Fun Ghoul."

"Fun Ghoul? I've heard of you before." The pilot suddenly seemed far friendlier than he had appeared only a second ago talking to Phoenix Fury. Deflating mentally at this fact, Phoenix cleared his throat to take charge of the situation again. "Oh yes, I'm Zeppelin Rocket, sorry about that."

"Oh shit, I've heard of you!" Fun Ghoul laughed, extending a hand to shake. "Great to meet you, I was at your last air show. That really went off without a hitch didn't it? Killed a few Dracs in the process… when they tried to stop you. That was a great day." Reminiscing, Fun Ghoul sighed happily.

"As nice as this catch up is…" Phoenix grimaced, noting the attitude of the two women who had followed after Zeppelin Rocket. They both seemed flustered and irritated that the man had paid them no mind and Phoenix Fury could relate at this point. "What is it you needed to tell Poison that was so urgent just a moment ago?"

"There's a war coming." Zeppelin Rocket said after shaking the sand out of his hair a serious note to his voice. He had to loop around in the sky since he'd passed over the camp initially and he'd run headlong into the sandstorm which had nearly downed his plane. Even the greatest of pilots couldn't fight grains of sand clogging up their engines. The four Killjoys surrounding him stared at him in confusion and awe of what he said. "We were in the City and the Dracs were mobilizing. They're going to be coming to your front door in the next few hours so I flew out here to at least give you the heads up."

"A war? You're sure about that?" Cosmic Karma chimed in from behind them when the others seemed at a loss for words.

"I wouldn't have flown all this way through that damn sandstorm if I wasn't sure." Zeppelin Rocket rolled his eyes as if this were obvious.

"What sandstorm?" Detonation Punx looked utterly surprised to hear of it. Phoenix Fury threw Fun Ghoul a knowing glance and Ghoul merely looked away and ignored the condemnation from his superior.

"Never mind that. You should prepare your men for battle and be ready to brace yourselves against the Dracs. You have time now to do a quick preparation and you don't want them to catch you unaware. They're coming in from the City so I suggest that you work that to your advantage." Zeppelin Rocket continued upon his thoughts. He'd been trying to plan out a course of action as he'd flown over the Killjoy camp and observed the sands that had surrounded them.

"Well, why don't we use the buildings we'd been hiding out in while Phoenix Fury took over the base?" Detonation Punx shrugged her shoulders as though the answer was simple enough, though her mind was still curious about the sandstorm that the others had mentioned but not elaborated on. The sky was a threatening color of orange even in the blackness of the night and she knew some kind of bad weather was upon them but no one had mentioned any sandstorm until now. _Though Fun Ghoul is covered in dirt. I don't know, I guess that I thought he was just having fun rolling in it or something. He is a strange enough guy to do that after all so I wouldn't put it past him. Sandstorm makes more sense though._

"That's actually a good idea." Fun Ghoul mused, nodding his head to agree with the woman who had helped him set up camp in those buildings in the first place.

"What buildings?" Phoenix Fury asked curiously.

"Not too far from here there's a group of abandoned warehouses. There's all sorts of rumors around about how they're haunted. We could set up camp there temporarily and there's plenty of room in there for all of our troops. We could set up a medical tent in the basement so that any of our injured won't be sitting out in the open to be picked off by Dracs." Fun Ghoul contemplated further what they could do. Phoenix realized he knew exactly what buildings they were talking about. He'd used them to hide from the Killjoys when he'd been planning their rebellion.

"We should set them up along the abandoned buildings around the zone as well. The Dracs think they're going to catch you by surprise. I memorized the lay of the land from above while I was flying before I hit that sandstorm." Zeppelin Rocket chimed in. "You could set up camp in those buildings this girl was mentioning. I think I know the ones you're talking about, then send out small teams to hide further in the zones. When the Dracs storm the camp they won't find anything here. If we could keep the camp looking like it's busy then they'd walk right into a trap."

"Especially if we lay out some explosives in the camp." Cosmic Karma suggested. "Fire Frenzy taught us how to set some of that stuff up before she left. Fun Ghoul's pretty handy with explosives too so I figure we could set some things to blow. I mean, we can always rebuild after this is over. Our lives are more important than our things and let's face it, we needed an overhaul anyway."

"That's a fantastic idea." Phoenix Fury smirked. "You know when Poison put me in charge I didn't think you'd all be so willing to help."

"Well, we may not trust you but we trust Party Poison and if he thinks you can do this then I do too." Detonation Punx shrugged her shoulders as if this answer was simple.

"She's got a point." Fun Ghoul offered Phoenix Fury a smile. Though he still didn't like the man he hadn't made any outright stupid decisions since he'd been left in charge so he was willing to be more open to his ideas now than he had been initially.

"Zeppelin Rocket, are you going to stick around? We could use all the help we can get." Phoenix hoped the pilot would help them out. He had a plan for what he could do to give them the upper hand.

"Yeah, I'll do what I can for you guys." Zeppelin Rocket wasn't the type to back down from a fight and knew that he'd stick it out to the end with the Killjoys. "You look like you've got something in mind for me, Phoenix."

"How are you at flying in bad weather?"

"As long as it's not the nasty sand shit, I think I can handle it." Zeppelin Rocket was also _always_ up for a challenge.

"Well, I suppose that we can wait out the sandstorm then. If you could keep in the air during the fight and radio down to us what you see then I think that we could have a real advantage. Plus, we could equip that plane with some weaponry and you could help us from the air too. You in?"

"Are you crazy? Flying up there during possibly torrential downpours, gale force winds, only to be targeted by Drac forces and possibly shot down in the thick of battle?" Zeppelin Rocket scoffed and Phoenix Fury looked sheepish. "How could I say no?"

"Thanks man, you need to refuel? I'm sure that one of the ladies here could help you."

"Not me." Detonation Punx pouted and shook her head, still rubbed the wrong way by the pilot since he'd ignored her when he'd climbed out of the cockpit and demanded to see someone with some authority.

"I'll help him." Cosmic Karma volunteered.

"After you, lovely lady." Zeppelin Rocket was in far better spirits, ready to prepare for battle and followed the red, white and blue haired woman into the camp to get fuel for his airplane before the battle began.

"Fun Ghoul, Detonation Punx? Find some volunteers willing to hide out in the suburbs of the third zone and then guide the rest to that hideout further back in the zones. Ghoul, when you've finished with that get Screaming Extinction and Neon Acid to help you with planting explosives around the camp. In the morning? We go to war." Phoenix turned away from the others without another word.

_Where are the leaders of the Killjoys when their people need them most? The western leader disappeared without a word to me and Party Poison ran into the City. Perhaps if they're sending warning out to their people they'll stop the fight before it even gets to us. I don't think Party Poison is the type to abandon these people in a time of need unless it was incredibly important._ Phoenix reflected on the situation at hand and stared at the looming shadow of the City in the distance. His heart started beating faster as he realized that behind that shadow was a force far stronger than the small army he was about to lead against it. They could all die in the next few hours, but at least they'd die putting up a fight.

As long as they stood up against Better Living Industries, even if they lost, they would've done what they'd set out to do. Killjoys until the end.

* * *

><p>Agent Alpaca aimed a shot at Disco's head after he'd pulled Tiger Beatdown away from the woman. Tiger shoved him off and reached in a futile attempt to pull the knife out of his shoulder. <em>We're too late, god we're too late. Better Living already got her. Fuck it hurts.<em> Tiger wasn't sure if he was addressing the wound in his back dripping blood over his skin or the pain in his chest watching the woman he'd hoped to save looking so empty and ill.

Alpaca watched Disco Bitch dodge the shot with speed he didn't think the woman capable of. She ran at him, twisted his arm and knocked the gun from his hand. Alpaca shouted and threw a punch at the woman who grabbed his fist, pulled him close by it and shoved him past her. Alpaca stumbled but didn't lose his balance. He hadn't expected someone looking so ill and abused to put up such a fight.

"Don't hurt her Alpaca!" Tiger Beatdown finally managed to wrap his fingers around the handle of the knife and tugged it with a sickening suctioning sound out of his back. He threw the knife to the ground as far from the group as he could and leaned heavily against the spider web covered wall of the hallway. The initial shock of the blow had crippled him and he was also sure he _couldn't_ fight Disco Bitch, even if she'd been brainwashed by Better Living Industries.

"Don't hurt her? Come on Tiger! This isn't like before! She's _actually_ trying to kill us both now!" Agent Alpaca knew the woman had of course been assigned to kill Tiger Beatdown in the first place but this was far different. She was clearly no longer in control of the choices she was making.

"She's not in her right mind, can't you see that?" Tiger yelled in objection. Disco Bitch turned toward him and grabbed instinctively at his throat. Tiger didn't make an attempt to dodge or fight back, so Agent Alpaca did it for him. Grabbing his friend by the arm, Agent Alpaca tugged at Tiger and pushed him out of the way of Disco's attack just in time.

Taking a punch to the face, Agent Alpaca threw up his arms and blocked the onslaught brought on by the woman. She continued at him with her fists, hoping to wound his arms enough to get him to lower them.

"Yeah I can see that but I'm not going to let her kill us!" Agent Alpaca grabbed Disco's arm, tired of her punching at him and twisted it around her back, attempting to restrain her.

"That's it! Restrain her, get her down onto the ground and maybe I can talk some sense into her!" Tiger Beatdown suggested, finding the blood loss from his shoulder starting to drain him and leave him light headed. "Disco, it's me! It's Tiger Beatdown, don't you remember me?" Tiger walked around the woman struggling against Agent Alpaca's arms to face her. "It's me, come on… I know you're still in there! You loved me once… remember?"

"Oh God." Agent Alpaca rolled his eyes. "Come on, the power of _love_ isn't going to bring her back, that's just stupid!"

"I've got to try! I believe in stupid fairy tales, asshole." Tiger Beatdown wasn't going to give Disco Bitch up without one hell of a fight.

"You're such an idiot, holy hell…" Alpaca was interrupted as Disco Bitch grabbed onto his wrist and ducked forward very suddenly, pulling Alpaca with her and practically throwing him off of her back. Alpaca lumbered into Tiger Beatdown who fell to the ground underneath his weight. Instantly jumping to attention, Alpaca narrowly dodged Disco's attempts to stomp hard on him with her boot. Catching the glint of the knife she'd used in the distance, Disco seemed to have an entirely different plan in her mind now. Shoving at Alpaca's shoulders to push him back to the ground, she used the momentum of the push to leap over him and Tiger Beatdown but fell face first on the ground when Agent Alpaca grabbed onto her legs to stop her from going as far as she had intended.

"Don't you remember the connection we shared? Disco, don't you remember me?" Tiger Beatdown scrambled to his feet and attempted to grab at Disco's face. She bit at his hands and he pulled back. There was no recognition in her eyes, simply anger and concentration. "You trusted me even when you were sent to kill me and I returned the kindness! You were amazing, we worked so beautifully together and I felt something for you I've never felt for anyone else! You told me your story, your history and I accepted you for who you are!" Tiger continued to rant. "Don't forget that woman you are, Disco, she's still in there somewhere, I can tell!"

"Fuck!" Agent Alpaca felt the woman's foot slam into his face, breaking his nose and blinding him with pain for a moment. Instinctively he let go of her legs and grabbed his nose to try and ease the pain and bleeding. "It's no use Tiger, she's a lost cause! Stop fucking preaching to her and shoot her in the fucking head!"

"I'm not giving up!" Tiger rolled to the side just in time to dodge Disco Bitch as she swiped at him and tried to take him down. Disco gave up on trying to attack them with just her hands and made another mad leap toward the knife. She seemed more like a wild animal than a calculated killer. Whatever was controlling her was no longer in control of their own mind, nonetheless Disco's.

Despite his bloodied nose, Agent Alpaca got up and ran after the woman. She wrapped her fingers around the knife and flipped it in her hand skillfully. Agent Alpaca wasn't going to give her a chance to use it on him and instead tackled her with all of his body weight. The two of them went flying down the hallway, skidding against the floor. Alpaca grabbed the woman's arms and pinned her to the ground, watching the blood spill from her forehead as it skidded against the floor of the hall.

"Disco!" Tiger got up and ran after his friend and the woman who had turned on them so quickly. "Disco, are you okay?"

"I'm _fine_ by the way!" Agent Alpaca coughed blood out of his mouth that had come from his broken nose as he continued to keep the thrashing woman beneath him pinned to the ground. Tiger Beatdown walked over to the two on the floor. Disco Bitch thrashed and tried to shove Agent Alpaca off of her but couldn't seem to manage it despite how hard she tried. She still had the knife in her hand but couldn't move her arm enough to do any damage with it. Hissing and angered, the struggle soon left Disco and she fell quiet on the floor, her eyes closing and grip loosening on the blade she'd obtained.

Tiger pulled the knife out of her hand and slipped it into the sheath he carried his own knife in just in case she tried to reach for it again. Checking her pulse he felt how fast her heart was racing. "I think you can let her go now. She's unconscious."

"I don't fucking trust her, smack her or something to make sure." Agent Alpaca narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Some help you were back there by the way!"

"I couldn't hurt her. Look, she may be brainwashed but somewhere in there she's still the woman I fell for and I'm not going to hurt her."

"You're a pussy." Agent Alpaca nodded toward Disco Bitch. "If you don't do something to make sure that she's unconscious I'm going to smack her head against the ground again just to make sure that she's out."

"Fine." Tiger Beatdown smacked Disco's cheeks to try and wake her but she merely laid in place, clearly unconscious. "She's out, are you satisfied?"

"Thank you." Agent Alpaca let go of the woman's wrists and climbed off of her. "Fuck my nose…" Alpaca groaned and held his nose again, feeling the blood gushing. Tiger Beatdown pulled some gauze out of his pocket and handed it to his friend. Alpaca looked skeptically at him and pulled the gauze apart before shoving it into each nostril to try and stop the flow of blood.

"Are you alright?" Tiger Beatdown asked after checking Disco Bitch to see how else she'd been harmed. Her skin looked burned and abused but other than the fresh wounds Agent Alpaca had inflicted in his attempt to defend them both, she seemed alright.

"Yeah, she broke my nose but that's it." Agent Alpaca inhaled through his mouth, sounding ridiculous with the gauze shoved up his nose.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help. I knew you could handle it… And I couldn't. I'm sorry. I thought I'd be strong enough to fight her Alpaca but seeing her like that… I just couldn't do anything. I froze up."

"I get it, it's okay." Agent Alpaca didn't require further explanation and he didn't have the energy to hear any more of Tiger's "power of love" speeches. "What should we do with her?"

"I'll carry her along with us." Tiger Beatdown suggested simply. "We're not done in here yet."

"Yeah, I figured we weren't." Agent Alpaca coughed. They couldn't leave that spider woman alive. Tiger Beatdown felt his shoulder aching with the wound he'd sustained and knew it was still bleeding. It was possible they'd have to risk sitting down and checking out their wounds before moving much further on.

"We need to find out what's been done to her and what was done to Kobra Kid. Maybe we can find a way to reverse it and prevent what happened to Kobra from happening to Disco." Tiger grimaced. He wanted to do as much as he could for the woman he was now lifting off of the floor and pulling over his shoulder in a fireman's hold.

"Well, let's get going then." Agent Alpaca coughed on the blood in his mouth but felt considerably better now that he'd plugged his nose up. Hopefully the wound would at least stop bleeding so he could continue on without these damn things in his nose. "Come on, let's go find some computers and see if they're still working with this webby shit on them." The group headed down the hallway and beyond, down the stairs where Disco Bitch had emerged from earlier. The further downward they went the worse the damage done by the Widow had become. Beams had been knocked down and the building was groaning under the weight of the rest of the floors above it.

"This is the scene where the spider falls out of the ceiling and eats me right?" Agent Alpaca muttered as they continued walking under the flickering lights of the hallway. Peeking in each door as he'd done so far, Alpaca found one where the computers weren't sparking and headed into the room in hopes of finding some answers.

"Oh come on now, you know better than that. Clearly the spider would've pulled you into one of these rooms first, not come from the ceiling." Tiger Beatdown didn't feel much like joking with all that had happened but he still tried. He was terrified that Disco Bitch wasn't going to make it out of this crazy place, that he'd have to leave her dead like they'd done with Kobra Kid but as long as he felt her heart beating against his back with how he was carrying her, he had hope that they could reverse what had been done.

"Come on, let's see if we can find her file." Agent Alpaca sat down at the computer desk on the far end of the room and flipped it on. Tiger Beatdown set Disco Bitch gently down on one of the gurneys lined up in the room, hoping that he could let her be comfortable while he helped his friend. Slowly he brushed her hair away from her face, noticing the heat radiating from her forehead. Whatever had been done to her it was making her physically ill and giving her a fever. Tiger Beatdown hoped and prayed that her immune system would be able to take on whatever the Widow had done to her body.

"Good idea." Tiger walked over to where Alpaca sat at the computer and leaned his arm against the chair, his whole back aching from the damage the knife had done to his shoulder. Agent Alpaca worked through the encryption of the computer slowly with the help of Tiger Beatdown who was better with computers than he was. Slowly they navigated their way through the files, searching for anything on the experiments that were done in the facility. The power flickered and threatened to turn off around them.

"We better hurry." Agent Alpaca sighed and then stopped as he found some familiar words amongst the mass of text he'd been scrolling through. "Wait, here we go, jackpot…" Alpaca put his finger to the screen and read the lines above it. "First successful WEB experiment is an elite Killjoy having long been on the Wanted list and hunted by Exterminators." He read on in his mind and summarized what he'd found after he'd finished reading. "It looks like Kobra was infected during the earlier experimental stages of the WEB thing here… And it looks like they knew it would fail at some point and he'd succumb to madness. Apparently they never expected him to live for as long as he did. At the end of his file here it says experiment unsuccessful since they lost communication with him awhile ago…" Agent Alpaca drifted off. It looked like anyone who had successfully been infected with this WEB experiment was doomed to die.

Tiger didn't respond and he knew his friend was thinking the same thing about Disco Bitch who laid unconscious behind them on the gurney. Agent Alpaca almost didn't bother looking for her file but on a hunch he kept looking. Tiger was merely staring now, through the computer and not reading any of the words that popped up on the screen.

_After all of the struggling and hell we went through to get here she's doomed to die anyway? How can this be? There's no cure? Nothing? _Tiger was lost. Without Disco Bitch he wasn't sure what he was going to do. He wasn't sure he was strong enough to watch her go through what Kobra Kid had gone through only to die despite their efforts to nurse him back to health.

"Wait, wait hold on just one second." Agent Alpaca continued reading. "Newest experiment proved more difficult than the last but was at least able to carry the infection properly." Alpaca noted this change of wording to be very important. Infection was no longer an experiment, but implied there could be a cure and that the experiment itself had been perfected rather than just having been tested.

"What?" Tiger finally acknowledged that Agent Alpaca was speaking still. Maybe there was still some kind of hope if what he said was true. They both seemed unaware of the woman behind them stirring on the table. She blinked her eyes open, not recognizing her surroundings. She heard voices and instead of moving decided just to listen. Her mind was mixed up and she couldn't remember what had happened to her. The last thing she could recall was lying on the floor of her cell and praying that she'd get to say goodbye to Tiger Beatdown before she'd lost every sense of herself.

"Because she interrupted the process and managed to escape halfway through her procedure she built up an immunity to the illness that eventually killed Kobra Kid it looks like… they solved that issue on accident, I guess." Agent Alpaca read on. "So it's possible that she's going to survive through the duration of the infection which seems like a temporary thing. It doesn't look like they designed any cure but rather designed the infection so that it would fade out on its own and leave the carrier incapable of continuing onward instead of having to deal with them risking exposure by returning to Better Living Industries."

"So she could live through this?" Tiger Beatdown's heart swelled with hope. _I will do anything to get her through this, anything!_

"Hold on, let me finish reading before you jump to conclusions." Agent Alpaca continued on. Disco Bitch's mind reeled. If she could get through this hell raging through her body then maybe she had a chance at a real life beyond what had happened to her. She was still confused though, what had happened and why could she now suddenly hear and think properly? "The madness that Kobra Kid suffered was supposed to be temporary and to further convince the Killjoys being deceived that he was only ill and not brainwashed. That would've worked if he hadn't snapped out of it. This looks like though…" Alpaca stopped talking as he continued reading and looked away from Tiger Beatdown who was staring at him in the hope of hearing something positive about the condition of the woman he loved.

"What? What does it look like Agent Alpaca? Tell me." Tiger Beatdown needed to know what he'd found, whether it was good or bad. _Please, give me some good news. Give me some hope._

"The insanity that took over Kobra Kid has been redesigned to continue instead of fade. Sanity should never return to Disco Bitch properly, only worsen. She'll slip into a madness from which she cannot escape, the jump in fever and hormones causing this will cause seizures and eventually… her brain won't be able to take it anymore. She'll essentially overheat and… be brain dead until her body stops working." Alpaca finished. "Tiger I'm sorry." Tiger Beatdown didn't answer just closed his eyes and tried to think of something he could say. There had to be a way they could find a cure for this infection. He would sit and study her for the rest of her days until he could find something to cure the illness riddling her body. Disco stared at the ceiling, mouth slightly agape as she contemplated her fate.

"Come into my parlor…" A hollow voice followed by the sound of cranking pistons and hissing steam met their ears. Agent Alpaca furrowed his brow and muttered a long string of curses before turning in his chair. "Said the spider to the fly." Widow returned to the room, blood dripping from her lips, pieces of some unfortunate meal still stuck between the gears of her mechanical body.

"I hope you're well enough to fight." Agent Alpaca got up from his chair and reached for his gun. "I can't handle _this_ bitch by myself."

* * *

><p>Venom had originally intended to wait for the others before he break into Central Command in the center of the City but when he'd seen Death-iNation going in for back up at some apartment building he'd decided to go there himself instead of wait. He figured if he could lay the groundwork for their grand entrance then it would be easier for them to fight their way to the computers. On his way to headquarters he spotted the militia of Dracs marching through the City toward the Eastern entrance. The Killjoys in the zones sure had one hell of a fight on their hands by the looks of the group marching onward. Led by Korse it seemed, they were checking their weapons before marching through the tunnel into the first zone. By the time the sun was in the sky, he knew the army would be nearing the camp out in the third zone.<p>

Venom pulled one of the straggling Dracs into the shadows of the nearest buildings in the City and instantly snapped his neck which was a much harder task than he'd thought it would be, given how many times he'd seen it done by other people. Getting all of that muscle tissue and nerve fibers to twist and snap had been a task and he'd nearly been overtaken in the process but had prevailed in the end. The man slumped to the ground in a heap. Killing hadn't gotten any easier for Vengeful Venom than it had been when he'd killed the Drac for information near the perimeter of the City. Making the sign of the cross over him, Venom knelt down and searched the Drac for anything that could be useful.

Pulling the Halloween-like vampire mask off of the man now on the ground, he'd pulled it on over his own head after wiping the inside of it in hopes of making it more sanitary. Wearing this mask again was something he never thought he'd have to do again but it was a means to an end. Using the mask against his enemy wasn't playing dress up like one of them again, it was a means to an end, an attempt for him to bring down the whole company from the inside. At least that's what Vengeful Venom kept telling himself.

He knew how to act like a Drac, how to talk like a Drac so he figured perhaps sneaking into the building he could last a bit longer unnoticed if he at least looked like a Drac. Covering the crossed out barcode on his neck had been the best idea he could come up with and the mask provided that and additional anonymity for him. Sneaking in through the front door had been about the craftiest thing he'd ever done. There had been armed security guards on each side of the door and initially when he'd entered he'd been promptly grabbed and questioned. Luckily he'd managed to fake a story about having been sent by the Scarecrow to speak to someone about the oncoming storm in the distance.

The guards weren't as smart as he remembered, and he had been surprised the excuse worked but the more he thought about it, the more he realized how clever the excuse had been. The weather was a huge concern for the Dracs, and it was entirely possible that in their plans they hadn't figured that the skies could unleash hell upon them. So, feeling far cleverer than before he'd entered the building, Vengeful Venom continued down the hall unnoticed. He knew it wouldn't last very long but if he could take out a few Draculoid guards along his path then he knew he would help Death-iNation and Fire Frenzy when they came, which he hoped would be soon. If he ran into the man while Frenzy was with him then at least she could vouch for him and hopefully he wouldn't get killed by the very people he was trying to help.

Hurrying through the maze of halls he was only stopped twice by guards and disposed of the Dracs in the most efficient way he could think of, slitting their throats and hiding them behind closed doors once he had been sure that no one was in the rooms he'd used. He'd locked the doors on the way out, just to delay their bodies being found. Aware that he would be caught soon enough and his luck wouldn't hold out much longer, he started to move faster through the halls.

There were countless rooms filled with cubicles and computers but he guessed that they would only be handling the commercial end of things so he continued on his search through the building. In the furthest reaches of the first floor he stopped suddenly upon hearing footsteps heading down the hallway toward him. For some reason he knew he wasn't going to be as lucky as he had been during prior moments he'd experienced. Sneaking into the room nearest him he left the door open a crack and listened to the conversation the passing Better Living Industries employees were having, hoping to remain unseen.

"The silent alarms were set off in the entrance three minutes ago. We have reports of several intruders. Three it looks like." A cold female voice was instructing the man she was walking with.

"What should we do?" The man responded in an equally cold voice. "All of our best men are with the army we sent out into the zones! We only have a small handful of security in this building… We're not equipped for intruders."

"It's only three intruders! Our small army of twenty we've left here to take care of security can take them out no problem. Not to mention our backups that we have here just in case… If they get past those twenty by the off chance they actually have _any_ skill whatsoever… then we can release them and though it could be a messy result, the problem will be exterminated." The woman scoffed, clearly doubting the ability of anyone to break into their building. Vengeful Venom felt a sick sense of pride that he'd made it so far into the building given the circumstances. Deciding to ignore the rest of the passing conversation, Vengeful Venom turned to observe the room he'd snuck into and widened his eyes in shock at what he found.

Behind him were three large test tubes, the same ones he'd seen when he was younger. They were labeled Instigator, Obliterator, and Destroyer in faded lettering along a plaque bolted to the base of each tube. Approaching them slowly Venom felt suddenly paranoid that maybe the three were in the room waiting for him, having observed him while he'd been spying on the conversation of the Better Living Industries employees had been having out in the hallway. He doubted they were the type to hide though.

He touched the glass of Instigator's test tube and felt the guilt in the pit of his stomach again thinking of how they had changed over the years. They had seemed so innocent when he'd first seen them covered in wires and attached to tubes inside of these crystal prisons but now he knew what they had become and knew the only way they could be set free is if they were murdered. There was very little of what they had once been left within them. Whatever Better Living Industries had done to them, it was irreversible.

"But why would Better Living Industries keep these around?" Vengeful Venom furrowed his brow in thought. The tubes and computers that had been monitoring them seemed to be in pristine condition regardless of their age. If the experiments were up and running on their own then why did they have to keep the tubes they'd been developed in? Maybe there was something in these computers that would help him destroy what had become of the three orphaned children he'd doomed so many years ago.

If there was nothing on the computers of use to him he would still destroy the test tubes and the initial testing set up. Maybe by doing so he'd be able to prevent any other children from being manipulated into the monsters he'd met in his prison not too long ago. His body reminded him of the pain he'd suffered at the hands of Obliterator and he pushed it to the back of his mind. _Only a little bit longer. Soon enough I can go back to the Killjoys and heal up. Jet-Star will take good care of me, I just need to do this here and help out that Death-iNation fellow and Fire Frenzy. That's more important than any wound._

Turning back to the door, Vengeful Venom locked it to buy himself some more time and sat in front of the computers there. He was unsure what sorts of sensors Better Living had connected to their technology but was hoping that the other intruders in the building would at least be able to keep security off of his back long enough for him to get something accomplished.

The moment he touched the keyboard loud sirens went off overhead, as if to belittle his assumption.

"Intruder alert." A speaker in the center of the room echoed a cold female voice, similar to the one he'd heard in the hallway earlier.

Vengeful Venom wasn't sure if he'd triggered it but he continued tapping away at the keyboard, refusing to give up just because of some alarm though it had rattled his nerves enough to make his hands tremble.

"Intruder alert." The voice overhead repeated.

Vengeful Venom felt the urge to run, just as he had felt years ago when he'd been escaping the experiments for the first time. It was terrifying to think he could be back in those labs, blood being drained for experiments. Shaking off the fear he continued at the keyboard, moving onward. He wasn't going to run with his tail between his legs again.

"All security personnel to the front entrance. Intruder alert."

Whoever had triggered the alarm, it hadn't been him.


	36. Instigate Obliterate Destroy

On the walk through the City, Frenzy had spent her time contemplating ways of entering Central Command. She had considered coming up with a more stealthy entrance through either the sewers or the air ducts that had been on the blueprints she'd spent so much time in Death-iNation's apartment poring over but had vetoed the idea several times in her mind. It didn't make any sense to try and sneak into the Central Command building in the middle of the City to her; not when the place was sure to be rigged with alarms at every entrance, cameras in every room and surrounded by security despite the army of Dracs that had left the City hours before.

More important, Fire Frenzy was just done being sneaky altogether. In fact, the idea of hiding from Better Living Industries made her physically uncomfortable. She'd spent years working underground and under the radar in order to get to this moment in particular and now that she was here, after all of her hard work, she was planning on going out with a very _loud_ bang. Having found a discarded beer bottle on their trek through alleyways of the City with her new comrades, Frenzy insisted they stop at a filling station so she could refill her flamethrower with accelerant and the bottle along with it. Over the years, Frenzy had mastered the art of breaking into the City's gas stations and using the pumps without being noticed. Being as consumed with fire as she was, it was a skill she'd found came in handy.

As the trio grew close to the tall building, they stood at the end of the block and observed it, hidden underneath its shadow. It seemed far more menacing when they were standing dwarfed next to it. The tallest building in the City, it had a large billboard on top of it with a flashing bright white sign; the soulless black smiling Better Living Industries logo staring down at the City, monitoring it like an omniscient eye.

Nearly every highway ramp in the City wrapped around this building; it was another sort of propaganda to force commuters to pass by the building on their way to and from work as if to remind them who was in control of their fragile little lives. While the people who lived in the City seemed blissfully unaware of the spell they were under, the Killjoys now standing in front of the building were all _too_ aware of it.

"With any luck, whatever security they've left in the building will be minimal. It seems like they've sent most of their men out into the battlefield." Death-iNation checked his gun, his hands trembling from nerves. He tried to hide it from the others, but he had a feeling they wouldn't have noticed even if his gun had been visibly moving back and forth in his hands. Everyone seemed too preoccupied with their own thoughts and fears to take notice of his. Turning to Marilyn Deathrow he smiled confidently at her, hoping his smile would instill confidence in her as well. She had always told him that she liked the way he smiled. "You've got your gun ready, Marilyn?"

"I do." Marilyn Deathrow had _stopped_ talking, much to everyone's surprise, about a half an hour prior to their arrival at Central Command when the gravity of what the group had planned to do had the chance to finally sink in. They were taking down an empire. Or at least they were going to try to. The thought was terrifying. For once, she found that she had very little to say in regards to anything. There were no words for what they were about to do, none at least that she could think of. _Maybe that's why Fire Frenzy's so quiet all the time. If this is the kind of shit she's up to all the time then it wouldn't surprise me in the least. I don't think I'd have much to say either if I was constantly throwing myself on the train tracks for a cause. I guess I shouldn't think she's so strange now, should I?_

"Good." Death-iNation could hear the fear in his lover's voice but was proud of Marilyn for not backing down once she'd realized the danger they were facing. In the same breath, Nation was also afraid for her. He knew Marilyn wasn't much of a fighter, at least not in this sense. Sure she'd spent years living on the streets and dealing with dangerous men who had tried to take advantage of her, and had learned to protect herself from them, but there was a huge difference between self defense and a tactical offensive strike against a highly trained militia. Of course, highly trained militia was worst case scenario.

Nation was hoping and praying that the experiments Better Living Industries had prepared for battle would be out on the field fighting with the Dracs. He was also hoping that the highest ranked officers would be out there in the desert as well, leaving basically the rent-a-cops of Drac security to take care of their buildings and facilities within the City. That would make their task a lot easier.

"Everyone ready?" Fire Frenzy could tell that Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow were having second thoughts about the task at hand but Frenzy was more than ready to go; in fact, she was downright eager. She'd been waiting for this moment for years, ever since she was a little girl, and there was this giddy sort of excitement building within her. Nation and Marilyn nodded to let her know that they were both ready but nervous, though neither one of them seemed entirely eager to say it out loud. "Are you two sure about this? You can back out right now and I won't think less of you. This being said now is the time to do so because in about two minutes, there's no turning back." Frenzy really wouldn't think less of them, though she didn't have much of an opinion toward either one of them to begin with.

"We're coming with you." Death-iNation placed a reassuring hand on Frenzy's shoulder then started ahead of her. He wasn't planning on backing down, and he had a feeling that Marilyn wasn't going to either. They had come this far through the City, and the only other option was retreating out into the zones which seemed far more dangerous than where they currently were.

"Wait." Frenzy stopped him from continuing forward, grabbing his arm only for long enough to stop him. "Watch and learn." Frenzy turned to face her comrades and stuffed a discarded cloth she'd picked up along the way into the top of the beer bottle filled with gasoline. Death-iNation shook his head in amusement and Marilyn Deathrow watched in awe. She'd never seen anyone _actually _use a Molotov cocktail before outside of a movie. In fact, she hadn't been entirely convinced that the concept worked. Flipping her lighter out of her pocket Fire Frenzy absentmindedly flicked the flame to life and lit the cloth on fire after she'd enjoyed watching the flame dance in the darkness. Extinguishing the flame of her lighter once the cloth caught fire Frenzy kissed the metallic side of the lighter, wished it luck then slipped it back in her pocket.

Frenzy had contemplated different approaches to breaking into the front door of Central Command once she had decided she wasn't planning on sneaking in and had decided that causing a stir inside the front doors would be better than doing so outside of them. Breaching the barrier would give her and her team confidence and an advantage. Walking toward the front doors, Fire Frenzy grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open. Being a public building, they were never locked. She held the door open and threw the beer bottle inside, not waiting for the crash of it on the ground before closing the door in front of her. Marilyn Deathrow and Death-iNation stood with their guns in their hands, listening to the sounds of chaos caused by the fiery explosion that had met the end of the now shattered cocktail.

Waiting for a second, Frenzy stood with her back to the door and listened to the sound of the chaos. Holding up her hand she counted to five in her head, then pulled out her gun and opened the door, aiming the laser at the Dracs that were already there attempting to deal with the gasoline that had spread out across the lobby of the building had caught fire when the bottle had smashed. Not having expected a continued attack, the Dracs didn't see the laser coming when she fired. Three Dracs down, Frenzy ducked out of the doorway and further into the lobby of the building dodging the return laser fire of the Dracs who had finally realized they were under attack and that the fire wasn't just some random act of violence.

Death-iNation followed closely behind Fire Frenzy and aimed to provide her with cover the best he could, as well as Marilyn Deathrow. The room was filling with smoke, thanks to the Molotov cocktail so the three pulled bandanas over their faces to help keep the smoke out of their lungs for the time being. Overhead the alarm was ringing and screaming that there were intruders at the front door.

"Intruder alert, all security personnel to the first floor lobby." They could barely make out the voice overhead coming from speaker over the sound of laser fire and the sizzling crackle of the fire catching onto the carpet, the chairs, the drapery, the wooden chairs and desks. A dozen Dracs were clamoring from the elevators at the end of the hallway and heading toward them firing their laser guns.

Nation grabbed Marilyn's arm and dragged her toward the opposite end of the lobby, hiding them both behind some furniture set up for personnel to rest in and wait to be serviced by the secretary at the front desk. While he knew the couches and chairs wouldn't provide them with cover for very long, it was still better than standing out in the open and trying to avoid laser fire through the chaos of the smoke.

"We've got to draw their fire away from Frenzy, okay?" Nation whispered to Marilyn, hoping to give her guidance, then peered over the edge of the couch and aimed his weapon, firing at the oncoming Dracs as quickly as his trigger finger would allow. Marilyn laid on the ground behind Death-iNation and peeked behind the couch, aimed to the best of her ability. When she had been in sticky situations in the past she'd always had close encounters, nothing quite this long range.

While she wasn't sure how good she'd be, she figured shooting a few times in the Draculoid's general direction, she would eventually hit something. She squealed in delight when she found that one of the shots she'd fired had actually hit its target and had taken down a Drac, a brilliant spray of blood splashing across the stark white walls. The red sirens and warning lights flashing overhead gave everything a haunting orange glow.

Frenzy stepped through the fire on the ground, careful to pat out her stocking as it caught. The burning sensation didn't bother her; she'd done this sort of thing too many times now for it to throw her off. Without warning, from the ceiling, sprinklers descended and came to life to assist in putting out the fire she'd started. Jumping in alarm and surprise from the cold water soaking her, Frenzy glanced over to make sure Marilyn and Nation were still alright despite the sudden change. Nation exchanged a wary glance as if to ask if she had any way to combat water with fire, though even his gaze seemed skeptical that it was possible. Fire Frenzy, however, wasn't done with her namesake just yet.

As the ten Dracs who had survived the onslaught of laser fire entered the lobby, prepared to spread out and take cover, Frenzy approached the wall next to the entrance of the hallway. Slipping her gun back into its holster she pulled the flamethrower from where she'd had it strapped to her back, flipped a switch to activate the second accelerant container on the gun and pulled the trigger, setting nearly all the Dracs on fire as they rounded the corner. Howling in pain and misery from the surprise attack, each of the Dracs tried desperately to put the fire out on their bodies but every time they managed to douse one area of their body it'd reignite like it'd never gone out at all.

"I love napalm…" Frenzy couldn't help but smirk as she watched the result of her flamethrower's second tank. Flipping another switch, which was essentially a reload on her weapon, Frenzy pulled the trigger again and sprayed the already crippled Dracs with the arc of fire that came out of the end of her gun until the metallic end of it turned bright orange and signaled it'd begun to overheat. Slipping the flamethrower back over her shoulder with the strap she'd attached to it so that it was resting on her back once more, Frenzy ducked out of the way and let Death-iNation take care of what was left of the Dracs, half of them already writhing on the floor in pain and easy enough to pick off.

Having seen what Fire Frenzy was up to with her flamethrower, Death-iNation signaled to Marilyn to cover him from behind the couch where she remained hidden, just in case any of the Dracs had enough strength to continue pulling the trigger of their weapons. Getting up from where he'd hidden he used the distraction of the fire to duck closer to them. Pulling out a second gun from the holsters on his hip, Death-iNation aimed both and shot the Dracs as they scrambled to put the fire on their bodies out to no avail.

One by one all of the Dracs fell to the ground either burned into unconsciousness or dead. Firing a shot into all of the Dracs' heads, Death-iNation wasn't going to take any risks of having any of them get back up and shoot them in the back when they were heading past them down the hallway toward the stairwell near the elevators. He'd seen enough horror movies to know that no one was really considered dead until you'd blown a hole through their skull.

Getting up from where she'd been hiding behind the couch every since Nation had instructed her to take cover there, Marilyn hurried over to Death-iNation's side once she was sure all of the Dracs had been taken care of. Throwing her arms around his neck with excitement she made a sound of happy approval, a squeal almost. Somehow, winning that battle against the Dracs, instead of making her regret taking the lives of those men, had filled her with adrenaline and excitement.

"You were so good out there! I had no idea you were so good at this!" Marilyn laughed and gave Death-iNation a sloppy kiss on his lips. Her hands were shaking and her heart was pumping with the adrenaline that came with fighting such a battle, but still she found no reason why she couldn't be proud of the man she was in love with. She had always thought he had been more of the man behind the action but now she knew differently and was really impressed. "You were like James Bond with those Dracs! I had no idea, Nation! You just grabbed the situation by the horns and ran with it!"

"Well… I've had to learn my way around a gun… Given my job and all." Death-iNation shrugged shyly and then glanced over at Fire Frenzy after resting his arm casually around Marilyn Deathrow's waist. The sprinklers overhead stopped spraying all at once and the voice that had ceased for a short period of time came over the intercom again, as if to remind them that they were doing something illegal.

"Intruder alert. Security threat. Back up forces deployed." The voice seemed to have become warped and disturbed now that they took a chance to clearly listen to it, since the chaos of gunfire had distracted them. There was something unnatural about the message, something sinister. The message repeated in an endless loop and the three exchanged glances once again. A cold chill went down Death-iNation's spine at the idea of what could be coming next. What were the backup forces reserved for this building? He hadn't even known there were backup forces in the building and he was suddenly very worried to what sort of threat they could pose. It hadn't occurred to him that Better Living Industries would keep something in storage for such an occasion.

Fire Frenzy sensed the tension growing in the air between her comrades so she pulled out her ray gun and aimed a shot at the speaker in the center of the room on the ceiling. There was a sizzle, a loud pop, and then the voice filling the room died though they could still hear it echoing from the halls and the rooms branching out on either end of it. Somehow, the absence of the voice in the lobby offered them comfort. Or maybe it was knowing they could stop the voice altogether if they needed to that comforted them as it didn't seem to bother them as they started into the hallway.

"Time to go." Death-iNation nodded and gave Marilyn Deathrow a pat on her shoulder to signal her to let go of him, since she still had her arms around his shoulders from their earlier embrace. Marilyn's feelings of excitement and pride in the man she loved as well as herself, dwindled at the idea of backup forces coming after them from some dark corner of Central Command. It had been hard enough taking out that dozen or so Dracs that had initially come after them when they alarm had sounded after Fire Frenzy had set the building on fire. It would be far too easy for them to have broken in and be done within ten minutes, so Frenzy wasn't too shocked by the threat of reinforcements.

"Right." Frenzy agreed and patted the bag underneath her arm with the C4 and other supplies they'd taken from Death-iNation's apartment just to make sure she hadn't dropped it during the fight. They headed through the hallway, past the elevators and the laboratories on the left hand side of the hallway. They didn't hold any interest to the intruders; instead they walked to the very end to a heavy door with a picture of a staircase on it.

"Hey, that stuff you used back there that the water didn't put out… was that napalm? How'd you get that stuff? I thought Better Living Industries outlawed it and disposed of all of it well, or they hid it all for their own personal use." Death-iNation asked curiously as they walked to the end of the hallway.

Tugging on the doorway to the stairwell, Death-iNation realized that the doors in the building must have automatically locked when they set off the alarms. He aimed his gun and shot the doorknob off of it after two well placed shots. Pushing the door open after it'd unlocked itself automatically as a defense mechanism, Nation glanced inside to make sure there weren't any Dracs waiting for them to get this far.

"They did. It's illegal, and you can't find it anywhere anymore." Frenzy smirked proudly at this fact and walked into the stairwell, peeking up the stairs to make sure no one was waiting there to ambush them as Nation had done previously. Once she was sure there was no one there she cautiously crept up the stairs, holding her gun pointed toward the ground, ready to fire just in case they were assaulted from above or below. "That doesn't stop anyone from making it."

"You made it? How the hell did you make it?" Nation looked puzzled. The concept of such a flammable and highly volatile substance being made out in the zones frightened and intrigued him.

"It's not as hard as you would think. Napalm is a fairly simple recipe. They may have banned the napalm, but they only confiscate books and those are easy enough to steal." Frenzy continued up the stairs, stepping as lightly as she could to prevent her footsteps from echoing against the metallic grated steps. Marilyn Deathrow followed behind Fire Frenzy and Death-iNation brought up the rear, keeping an eye below them as they ascended the steps to the second floor.

"Better Living Industries has it designed so that you have to go through all of the halls and corridors of each floor to get to the next stairwell unless you take their elevators. It helps them keep control of any visitors or intruders. It also promotes that feeling of getting lost… and keeps visitors confused. That's what stops a lot of people from trying to go to places they're unfamiliar with on their shift. Workers are too afraid of getting lost to wander." Death-iNation stopped at the landing of the second floor.

Not bothering to try the door handle, Frenzy shot it off and then ducked in surprise at the sound of gunfire, narrowly avoiding the laser fire that followed. There were more Dracs on this level waiting for them, apparently. Taking cover on the side of the doorway, Frenzy tried to recall how many she'd seen standing in the hallway before she'd ducked down to avoid being shot.

"Take cover on the stairs!" Frenzy shouted instructions, hoping to keep them out of the line of fire. Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow didn't hesitate, firing shots when they could from their precarious positions, lying against the stairs. Stairwells were the worst place to be stuck in during a gunfight, but luckily it didn't seem like the Dracs that were left in the building were all that well prepared for a pretty well thought out assault, such as theirs.

"Now what do we do?" Death-iNation yelled over the sound of laser fire.

"Hope we get lucky!" Fire Frenzy didn't look out the doorway, but aimed her gun in the direction she remembered the Dracs being in and fired off a few shots, hoping she'd at least cause some confusion in the process and make the Dracs as nervous as her comrades looked. Frenzy wasn't afraid of being shot or killed by any of these Dracs. She was ready for this.

"Yeah, I've got to say, in my experience luck doesn't exist." Death-iNation shouted back. Frenzy ignored him and aimed again, hearing a sound of pain coming from the other side of the door. Taking a chance, Frenzy took a deep breath, held it and ducked out of the door way, running to the side and taking cover in a cubicle on the left side of the large room. Creeping through the cubicles she'd at least be able to hide herself away from the Dracs and hopefully take out a few of them in the process, while keeping herself covered.

Death-iNation crept forward to take Frenzy's abandoned place at the door, aiming a few careful shots out the doorway, hitting one of the Dracs in the process. Nodding toward Marilyn Deathrow, he came up with a plan and hoped she'd comply.

"When I say go, you run out the door and to the right through the cubicles. You can sneak to the side of the Dracs and get them from there. I'll stay here as a diversion!"

"A diversion? Don't do anything stupid, Nation!" Marilyn Deathrow grimaced, worried for Death-iNation. Every diversion scenario she'd ever read about had ended badly for the person drawing fire. She couldn't think of how he was going to draw attention away from her in such a narrow space.

"Trust me, okay?" Death-iNation signaled for her to join him on the other side of the door. She complied, yelping as she narrowly dodged laser fire in the process. The Dracs were really on their game, despite them being unprepared for an attack. "I'll be okay, I promise." Nation smiled softly at the woman and Marilyn nodded knowingly, deciding it was best to trust him, seeing as she might not get another chance after this.

Fire Frenzy was sneaking through the cubicles, hoping to be able to get to the other side of the room and to the stairwell, managing to get behind the Dracs in the process. If they had the group surrounded they'd be able to easily take out what remained of the Drac security on the second level of the building. She was so close to the main computers she could taste it, and a small handful of Dracs were nowhere near a big enough threat to stop her. Hopefully while she was breaking into the computers she would be able to locate Grace before she wiped the hard drives. The little girl was more important than her sick twisted vision of vengeance that she'd been obsessed with since she had been a little girl alone on the streets of Battery City, searching for a way to survive and watching her friends disappear.

Death-iNation watched and waited for an opportunity for Marilyn Deathrow to run safely into the room so she could hide in the sea of cubicles as Fire Frenzy had done. The opportunity came when one of the shots Marilyn had taken, out of sheer luck, had caught one of the Dracs by the foot. The man fell backward into his comrades, knocking the group off of their feet and sending them into a rushed attempt to try and get up and be on their guard.

"Go!" Nation yelled and instead of remaining as a distraction as he had originally planned to do, he followed behind Marilyn Deathrow into the hallway. He shot at the downed Drac and managed to off one of his friends before they returned fire. A blast grazed his leg and it nearly gave out beneath him but he managed to keep standing and ran into the cubicles after Marilyn.

"You're bleeding!" She whispered in a panic, not wanting to give away their exact position to the Dracs.

"I'm fine, don't worry. I can't even feel it." Death-iNation lied. Every time he moved his leg he felt the muscles threatening to give but he was going to fight until there was no breath left in his lungs.

"You're not fine, don't lie to me." Marilyn whispered out of worry.

"What do you want me to do? Run back downstairs to safety and wait for you two to finish up in here? No way. You need to go do what I asked you to do, alright? I'm going to do something back here like I promised, then I'll be right behind you, covering your back. Frenzy's on the other side, I'm sure she's looking out for us." As if to reassure them they heard a squeal from one of the Dracs followed by the gurgle of someone choking on blood. Frenzy must have managed to get to the side of the group or behind and suddenly the gunfire was drawn away from the doorway.

"Okay." Marilyn nodded to confirm that she'd listen but her brow was still furrowed and heavyset with worry for the man she loved. Marilyn crept through the cubicles as quietly as she could and Death-iNation watched her go until she turned a corner and was out of sight.

Nation peered around the side of the cubicle and fired at the vulnerable Dracs, hitting another in the side and when they turned back to look at them he aimed his gun toward the ceiling. Firing a few shots at the metallic covered spots, he watched it change color from the heat of the laser fire and suddenly the sprinkler system that had activated downstairs when Fire Frenzy had set the lobby on fire activated once again, spraying cold water over the entirety of the room.

Surprise hit the Dracs and they yelled in response, looking around frantically for the source of the new attack. Hearing frantic gunfire, Death-iNation hurriedly ran out into the hallway between the cubicles and aimed his gun at where the Dracs had been but found Marilyn Deathrow standing holding her gun over the fallen bodies of the Dracs. At the other end of the hall he saw Fire Frenzy standing with her gun aimed in the same direction. The girls must have finished off what had been left of the Dracs in the room when they were distracted by the activation of the sprinkler system. Sighing with relief, Nation limped over to where Marilyn stood and pulled her close against his chest. She was shaking from her nerves and he could tell she had been terrified while she'd been shooting the Dracs but she'd done it well, despite her fears.

"You did great, Marilyn." Nation embraced her and gave her a small smile. Marilyn buried her face against Nation's shoulder and sunk into him for a moment, just to work the edge off of the things she'd just done. Her fingers felt numbed from the act of pulling the trigger, and while she'd been excited at the beginning of their adventure, now that they'd come this far, the adrenaline was fading and fear was kicking in. "The computers are probably locked up now. They change the passwords frequently so we'll have to hack the mainframe before you can do anything." Nation was speaking to Frenzy, glancing over at her while he comforted his lover.

"Oh no one's hacking anything." A voice from the far end of the room, where the elevators stood against the wall past the cubicles that Marilyn Deathrow had been hiding in echoed toward them. Even from where they stood amidst the cubicles, Nation could see who it was that had addressed them. A man and a woman, one with a bowler hat and a cane and the woman with long hair curled lazily at the bottom were approaching them. As they reached the gap between the cubicles where Marilyn and Nation stood, both of them holding their guns, they turned to face the two.

Neither acknowledged Fire Frenzy's presence, apparently unaware she was standing behind them. Instigator and Obliterator were looking at the two in front of them as if deciding what to do with them next. A chill ran through Frenzy's spine and she wondered what _her_ next move should be. Right now she could fire at Obliterator and Instigator but she had a feeling that before the blast reached them they would've turned away and dodged it. She'd risk hitting Marilyn and Nation in the process and then take the full blunt of the retaliation from the two experiments.

Obliterator walked past Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow, seemingly uninterested in them. He walked to the end of the hall and down the stairs that they'd come from. Apparently something on the first floor was far more interesting to him than Marilyn and Death-iNation were. They couldn't be concerned with him then since he no longer seemed to pose a threat. Instead the woman in front of them, though unarmed, seemed incredibly menacing. She had a presence about her that made them uneasy.

Death-iNation threw a glance to Fire Frenzy as if to tell her to keep going without them. Frenzy stared for a moment, contemplated staying to help them fight, then realized that if she did it'd be the end of them all. She'd come back to help them later if she got the chance. Before turning to the stairs Frenzy pulled out her lighter and lit the nearest cubicle on fire. While she'd been walking through the cubicles she'd started to plant containers of C4 on support beams with detonators stuck in them. Worst case scenario she'd blow the detonators and hope that Marilyn and Nation could escape in time. If she was sure they had gotten out, she'd just blow it altogether without any concern for her own well being.

Frenzy headed into the stairwell, noiselessly closing the door behind her, leaving Nation and Marilyn standing face to face with Instigator. The woman would've been pretty if there hadn't been something ugly behind her gaze.

"Now you've had your fun with Better Living's men… it's time for you to be taken care of. We can do this two ways. The easy way where you just let me finish you off or you can fight. I have a feeling you'd prefer the latter." Instigator didn't make any moves. In fact, she was downright smiling at them.

Somehow the couple knew that they'd be in for a fight.

* * *

><p>Late into the night, Phoenix Fury, Jet-Star, Zeppelin Rocket, and Fun Ghoul had led group after group of Killjoys into position in the desert. Main base had been set up in the buildings rumored to be haunted that Fun Ghoul had hidden his men in when Phoenix Fury had the rebels storm the base the week before. It seemed like the most logical spot and the Dracs would never suspect that they weren't inside of the base, as they usually were. In fact, they were sure that the Dracs still thought they had no idea about the attack at all. It gave the Killjoys the upper hand which was something they rarely had and wouldn't let go lightly. Neon Acid and Screaming Extinction had rigged the base with explosives and now were waiting in the nearby abandoned buildings for the Dracs to attack the camp.<p>

Phoenix Fury stood in the doorway of a building in the destroyed suburbs of the third zone, watching as the army from Battery City marched through the dust storm and slowly toward the base. Korse was at the head of the pack, leading the Dracs in an orderly group, an old World War II gas mask over his mouth. There were a hundred of the Draculoid soldiers following behind him, at the very least. Phoenix Fury had never been very good at estimating so fuck if he actually knew what the number of them could possibly be. Regardless, he felt confident that his men could handle the large group.

"The last group is set up at the border of the second zone. Captain Phantom just radioed me to let me know." Jet-Star walked up to Phoenix Fury with his arms crossed over his chest. "You ready for this?" Jet-Star didn't _want_ to make friends with Phoenix Fury but the guy looked like he needed _someone_ to talk to and being a nice guy, Jet-Star decided he would make the effort.

"As I'll ever be, I guess." Phoenix Fury seemed worried, not taking his eyes away from the oncoming army as they made their way through the sands.

"You did a good job today. This was a good idea, positioning us around like this. You're not a bad leader, Phoenix. You're just… a little hasty."

"I'm too young. Without the help of you, Ghoul and Zeppelin? I'd be done for." Phoenix watched the dust starting to settle over the third zone, but the dark clouds in the sky seemed more ominous than the sand had been. Any second Zeppelin Rocket would be taking off to give them an eye from the sky and his radio would be going off to let him know just that.

"Yeah, but a good leader has to know how to listen to the people he's leading." Jet-Star shrugged. "Look, no one's perfect, you saw Party Poison. He's a wreck. But he knows how to deal with people and that's half the battle."

"What the hell was he doing leaving like that when we needed him the most?"

"He was doing what he needed to, I suppose." Jet-Star didn't offer any further explanation because he wasn't honestly sure what Party Poison was up to. Whatever it was, he knew it had to be important. Party Poison was not the type to abandon his friends in a time of need.

"You really think I'm doing okay?"

"Captain Phantom and Commander Cutlass are listening to your orders, so that means your ideas must not be _that_ bad." Jet-Star chuckled, hoping to lighten Phoenix Fury's mood a little bit. "Look, no one's perfect. You're going to fuck up sometimes but I know that you can handle this. And you want to know why I know that about you?"

"Why?" Phoenix Fury turned to look at Jet, his bulky arms crossed over his chest, giving the doctor a skeptical look.

"Because you're already handling it, that's how." Jet-Star said confidently. Phoenix Fury wasn't sure if that made sense or not, and though he was trying to wrap his mind around it he didn't have time to process it completely. His radio buzzed to confirm that Zeppelin Rocket had indeed made it into the air, as he had predicted.

"The dust is settling now, but Korse has a fuck-ton of Dracs lined up. Wait for them to get to the camp and take out as many as you can. I'm going to stay high up enough so I make less noise and won't get shot down quite so quickly."

After hesitating and exchanging a glance with Jet-Star, Phoenix Fury picked up his radio and spoke into it. "Good, keep me posted. After the bombs go off I'm signaling the ambush so come in fast and low and try not to hit my men."

"I'll plow the road. No worries." Zeppelin Rocket's smirk could be heard from the other end of the radio.

"Cocky bastard." Phoenix Fury put the radio back on the hook on his belt. His radio buzzed again, Screaming Extinction's voice coming from the other end of it this time.

"They're here." Phoenix didn't have to respond to the command. Glancing behind him, he saw the others in the room staring out the windows nervously. Thunder cracked in the sky as if to add to the mood they were all feeling, the lightning that preceded it having illuminated everything to a point of blindness. The world was shifting and changing around as the storm reached its boiling point. Even nature seemed to know what was coming.

"They're going into the base." Jet-Star whispered, even though he knew there was no way his voice could carry over the wind to the Drac army. Phoenix Fury merely watched Korse cross through the gates once the Dracs knocked the door in. "You should blow it now." Jet-Star urged Phoenix Fury. "While Korse is in there… give us the advantage. If he's wounded he'll at least be a little slower than usual."

"That won't kill him. Give it a minute." Phoenix Fury wanted them to know they were walking into a trap. Though he couldn't see the look on Korse's face when he realized the camp was empty and rigged with explosives, he could envision it and it tasted sweet.

"You're wasting time…"

"I'm not." Phoenix Fury picked up his radio and spoke through it. "Blow it." Not putting down the radio, Phoenix let go of the trigger on the walkie-talkie and stared out the open doorway at the Eastern camp, watching it intensely. Everyone who had been watching the army out of the window had turned to look at him. There was a tension set thick in the air, filled with apprehension and nerves.

Without a response from Screaming Extinction on the other end of the radio, there was a moment of almost deafened silence where even the rain and thunder had ceased before explosions riddled the Eastern camp. Buildings blew, the walls trembled but didn't fall, debris flung through the air. Smoke and dust flew over the surrounding suburbs. Phoenix Fury pulled the door to the building he was hiding in with his small militant team to help shelter them from the flying debris and dust. In the silence that followed the explosion, a sob from someone in the room echoed amongst them. Phoenix wouldn't ask who it was that was upset. They'd just watched their homes be blown sky high. Even Phoenix felt like he'd lost something of himself in the explosion.

"Even more of a reason to fight." Clearing his throat, Phoenix didn't explain his thought but he didn't need to. Those around him seemed to know exactly what he'd meant. Opening the door after the debris had settled, the sight that met them was haunting. The dust was clearing on the rubble that was left of the Eastern camp, very few of its buildings still standing but it's surrounding supporting walls partially remaining intact.

Waiting with baited breath, they watched. Phoenix held the radio close to his face still, ready to signal the battle to begin once he was sure it was safe to emerge from their hiding place without suffering any damage from the explosions that had gone off. He had no idea how long it would take for the debris to stop flying and come crashing to the ground.

Shadows formed within the dust and debris started to settle. The pitter patter of raindrops fell overhead, signaling the continuation of the storm that had been threatening them since the night before. _Perfect timing really, all hell is about to break loose, quite literally._

"…time to go." Phoenix spoke into the radio, hung it on his belt and started out the door. The men and women hidden in the building with him followed him out of the front door, walking toward what was left of the Eastern base camp. Jet-Star and Cosmic Karma stood close behind Phoenix Fury, prepared to follow him into the smoke. Killjoys from the buildings all around them started to emerge, some of them laying down heavy artillery and stationing themselves near the building for cover, others marching like foot soldiers toward the remains of the base.

The first laser fire came from the Dracs within the smoke. It was then that all hell _actually_ broke loose. The tension that had built up during the explosion and through the course of waiting for the Dracs to make their approach had been broken. Killjoys were running into the smoke, dodging laser fire and causing their own.

"Could use some help here!" The radio buzzed with Screaming Extinction's voice on the other end, laser fire heard over the radio as well. Phoenix Fury was about to respond when the radio was blown out of his hand. Korse was coming at him, pointing his laser gun at Phoenix his face half burnt and a sick smile across his face. The man seemed disappointed to see Phoenix Fury leading the pack instead of Party Poison.

Jet-Star pulled Phoenix Fury out of the way of the laser fire just in time, Korse continuing to fire at them fiercely. Phoenix Fury grabbed his radio and replaced it on his waistband, forgetting about Screaming Extinction's call for help in all the chaos. Cosmic Karma retaliated but Korse managed to dodge as quickly as he fired. Instead of staying away from the woman who was firing at him, Korse walked straight toward her. Karma backed up and did her best to dodge the laser fire. As Korse came closer she flipped her gun around, grabbed the hot end of it and swung the butt end hard at Korse's face. Korse merely tilted his head to the side with the force of the blow. Blood ran down his face from the gash the butt end of the gun left but he gave no other reaction. Cosmic Karma widened her eyes in horror as he grabbed her wrist and twisted. Her wrist snapped and she screamed in pain.

"Karma!" Jet-Star aimed at Korse, hitting him in the back of his shoulder. Blood sprayed over the ground, over Cosmic Karma, but the Scarecrow didn't budge or back down from his target. Grabbing his gun he fired at Jet-Star who fell back to narrowly avoid the blow. Phoenix Fury offered his hand to help Jet-Star to his feet, all the while aiming at the Dracs who were running toward them to provide back up to their leader.

"Cosmic Karma needs help!" Jet-Star hurried back toward Korse again but Phoenix stopped him.

"You're being stupid, take out the Dracs! I've got her." Phoenix Fury aimed at the leg of Drac, knocking him to the ground. Several other Killjoys surrounded Phoenix Fury and Jet-Star to keep the heavy fire off of them. Phoenix hurried toward Korse, but was stopped as a Drac tackled him to the ground and punched at him.

Korse twisted the laser gun out of Cosmic Karma's hands, ignoring the bleeding from his shoulder. Taking the gun, he turned it on her and aimed it at her chest.

"How does it feel? To be shot with your own gun?" Korse sneered but as he pulled the trigger, his arm slipped and the blast went through Karma's shoulder rather than her chest. Phoenix Fury had managed to overpower the Drac who had taken him down rather easily and subdued him and had come running into Korse at full force. Korse fell to the ground in surprise, letting go of Cosmic Karma who howled in pain and stumbled backwards on her feet, grabbing the bloody wound on her shoulder and barely managing to stay upright.

Phoenix wrestled with Korse on the ground. Somehow the man was managing to avoid his punches and attacks, despite how close they were in proximity. Luckily, Phoenix Fury had won quite a few fights in his life and managed to dodge the blows that Korse attempted to return.

Jet-Star hurried through the laser fire and grabbed Cosmic Karma, scooping her up into his arms. Yelling to Black Cherrybomb, he started to drag her back toward the building they'd started in before the explosions had gone off. "Cover me!"

Black Cherrybomb, who was holding down the fort at the building that they'd been hiding in because of his head wound, nodded and ran out into the desert, picking up Cosmic Karma's discarded gun as he did. Aiming his own weapon and the newly acquired one, Black Cherrybomb kept the Dracs at bay. Despite his head wound, his aim had never been better. Making sure that Jet-Star managed to get Cosmic Karma into the building he retreated back to the doorway to provide cover to others who were injured in the fight. "Is she okay?"

"No!" Jet-Star was pulling at her jacket and applying pressure to the wound on her shoulder, covered in blood. Karma grabbed at Jet-Star's arm to stop him from pushing and trying to deal with her wound.

"Calm down! I'm going to be okay!" Though Karma had initially panicked she was relieved to be away from the heavy fire and away from Korse in the same moment. "They need you out there! More than I need you!"

"No, I'm staying here! Cherrybomb, we're setting up first aid here! Send a message to Ghoul to let him know that we need more supplies, to send a runner with some backup!" Jet-Star refused to let it go, pulling his jacket off frantically and tossing it aside. Cherrybomb picked up his radio and sent the message to Fun Ghoul who was holding the fort down in the warehouses further out in the zones and ran to the trunk they had filled with supplies at the other end of the main room of the abandoned run-down building. Gathering some gauze and antiseptic along with some other first aid supplies in his arms, Cherrybomb ran them over to Jet-Star.

"Ghoul's sending some men, here's what we have! Stop the bleeding and she'll be okay! You're lucky it's her shoulder and not her chest."

"I know that man, I'm a doctor." Jet-Star offered a small smile to Black Cherrybomb, thanking him for the supplies he'd provided him with to help with Cosmic Karma's bleeding. "Get back to the doorway and keep watch. Make sure Phoenix is okay out there, I left him without backup!"

"Shit." Black Cherrybomb hurried to the door, still holding both his weapon and the one he'd retrieved from Cosmic Karma out in the sands. He could see Phoenix rolling in the sands trying to keep his hands on Korse, but not doing an incredibly good job.

Phoenix was sure that if he could take Korse down then he would be able to take out the rest of the Dracs. He guessed they had a pack mentality and if the leader went down the rest of them would fall too, powerless to lead themselves without his guidance. While he had no idea if this point of view were valid, Phoenix couldn't help but want to try. Plus, he'd had the wool pulled over his eyes by this asshole and thought it was about time he'd gotten his revenge and paid him back for the damage that had been done to the Killjoys.

Yelling in misery as his fist once again met the ground instead of Korse's face, Phoenix grabbed at Korse's neck and squeezed, deciding to take a more direct approach to attacking.

"Get out of this you slippery fuck!" Phoenix hissed in frustration, his knuckles bleeding and sore from punching and missing. There were Killjoys around them trying to keep the Dracs from defending their leader. Phoenix could see the Dracs were quickly becoming outnumbered and felt empowered.

"You underestimate us." Korse grinned despite the fact that his face was becoming discolored from being unable to breathe due to Phoenix's bulky hands squeezing at his throat. Grabbing at Phoenix's throat in return, Korse leaned up and bit hard down on Phoenix's shoulder. Phoenix widened his eyes, didn't immediately panic then started to try to push Korse off of him, only succeeding at tearing his flesh as he did. Korse laughed maniacally and spit the chunk of Phoenix Fury's skin to the side as Phoenix rolled off of him in pain, gripping the spot where he'd been bitten. Korse got to his feet, aimed his gun, only to be thrown back by a laser shot from Black Cherrybomb who was aiming from the doorway of the building nearby.

Two Killjoys came up behind Phoenix Fury and helped him to his feet, seeing the pain he was in and how surprised he was that he'd been bitten.

"You need to get to Jet-Star!" A familiar voice instructed Phoenix. He turned to see Captain Phantom and Bad Medicine standing nearby, laying down cover fire. They had helped him off of the ground.

"Not yet, I don't! Don't let that fucker go!" Phoenix shoved Phantom off of his shoulder and ran after Korse. His radio buzzed again, a cry for help once again from Screaming Extinction.

"Phoenix! I'm trapped in what's left of the camp! I'm cornered, my gun's jammed! They're coming, I can't hold them off!" Phoenix stopped and immediately turned on his heels toward the camp. Korse would just have to wait. Captain Phantom and Bad Medicine were on his heels, following up behind him.

"You can't run around bleeding like that, you idiot!" Phantom hissed, following after him, despite her dislike of him.

"I know that, go help the others okay? I've got this!" Without turning to look at her Phoenix picked his radio up again and spoke into it. "I'm coming Extinction! Hey Zeppelin, you hear me?" After a moment of waiting, the familiar smooth voice of the pilot responded over the radio.

"Loud and clear, Phoenix! How's it going down there? Too dusty for me to see your position!"

"I could use some cover fire at the camp if you're not too busy, is that too dusty?" Pushing what had once been his green mohawk but was now a sopping wet green mess out of his face, Phoenix hurried toward the campsite. The rain was falling diagonally from the sky in torrents.

"I'm coming with you, tell him to watch out for me too!" Commander Cutlass was running to catch up, having ditched his leather jacket somewhere during the battle, his arm soaked in blood from some unseen wound.

"Did your sister send you? I told her I'm fine!" Phoenix sounded annoyed but was secretly grateful for the backup.

"You're an idiot, but we're not going to let you die running headlong into the thick of the Dracs! They're holding down base in what's left of the camp, you need some backup! If anyone's going to kill you, it's going to be me or my sister." Commander Cutlass wasn't going to take no for an answer and Phoenix Fury didn't have time to argue.

"Fine! Damnit, Zeppelin, Cutlass and I are running into the camp after Screaming Extinction! I could use some cover fire and preliminary fire to clear the path to where my man is!"

"Hurry!" Screaming Extinction could be heard through the radio, still panicking about being stuck amongst the Dracs. Phoenix could only hope that the man could hold out and they wouldn't be too late to save him.

"You got it, Phoenix!" Zeppelin didn't respond further. Cutlass and Phoenix continued to run toward the camp but ducked low to the ground when Zeppelin's plane came in low and began maneuvering through the Dracs, some not moving away in time and getting caught on the plane, either dying instantly or flying to the ground unconscious.

"Everyone watch out for Zeppelin Rocket!" Phoenix yelled into the radio, though it was pretty obvious to everyone in Zeppelin's way before he'd yelled it.

"Ya think?" Detonation Punx responded, coughing into the radio, having obviously dodged the plane and narrowly at that.

"Sorry!" Phoenix winced, realizing he should've sent out the warning before calling the pilot. No harm seemed to have been done though, at least not that he knew of. The Dracs had no idea what was coming for them as the plane sped through the remainder of the camp, firing the gun attached to the front of the plane, Zeppelin Rocket taking out as many of the Dracs as he could until he was forced to pull up to avoid crashing to the ground.

Phoenix took the hand that Commander Cutlass offered him to help him off of the ground and hurried to his feet. Detonation Punx joined them a moment later.

"I heard Extinction over the radio and hurried over!" She shouted before they could ask her what she was doing so close to the camp. The three ran into the camp, taking down any of the Dracs who were coming out of hiding now that Zeppelin Rocket had finished his sweep. He was turning around for a second go, it looked like.

"We don't have much time! Extinction, where are you?" Phoenix yelled into the radio, looking around at the half destroyed buildings that had once been home to the Killjoys.

"The old mess hall!" Extinction shouted through the radio. "I'm down but have taken cover near the ovens, hurry!" There was a strained weakness to the man's voice that hadn't been there during prior calls. Someone must have managed to get to him before they'd gotten into the camp.

Ducking out of the way to avoid any friendly fire from Zeppelin Rocket during his return attack, Phoenix, Cutlass and Detonation Punx kept to the buildings that were intact, taking out Dracs along the way. It looked like, thanks to Zeppelin Rocket, they'd taken out the bulk of the Dracs that hadn't been killed in the initial blast. In fact, Phoenix could hear cheering on the wind, through the rain. Somehow he knew that the Killjoys were rejoicing some kind of victory.

"Do you…?"

"I hear it." Phoenix interrupted Cutlass, more concerned with finding Screaming Extinction than anything else at the moment. There would be plenty of time for celebration after they'd won the war.

"Over here!" Detonation Punx ran ahead, into the half destroyed mess hall. "He's in here! I found him!" Punx hurried inside and back to the kitchens where she could see Screaming Extinction holding a bloodied butcher knife, lying next to the body of a fallen Drac. His body was badly bruised and his leg was bloodied and mangled.

"Bad Medicine, we could use your help here." Cutlass picked up his radio, out of breath from how far he'd run with Phoenix. Phoenix shook his head and leaned over Extinction.

"Sorry that it took so long to get here, we had our hands full."

"Yeah, I heard you were wrestling with Korse. Don't worry about it. Glad you got here before anymore Dracs found me, though." Extinction coughed in response, nodding toward Detonation Punx who had apparently been communicating with him over the radio since he'd first sent out his distress call.

"Yeah, but you're going to be okay." Phoenix Fury patted Screaming Extinction on the shoulder and immediately apologized, seeing the man wince in reaction. Sometimes, Phoenix forgot his own strength.

"I'm hit!" Zeppelin Rocket's voice came in over the radio. Phoenix and Cutlass immediately jumped to attention.

"Go, I've got this!" Detonation Punx was tearing the bottom of her shirt into strips to help stop the bleeding on Screaming Extinction's leg.

"I'm on my way up, are you alright Cutlass?" Bad Medicine's voice came in over the radio in response, worry thick in her voice.

"I'm fine, we've got a man down here in the mess hall, He's in pretty bad shape and we could sure use your expertise." Cutlass started toward the destroyed doors to the mess hall, followed closely by Phoenix.

"I've got to bail, look out below." Zeppelin chimed in over the radio once again, not sounding incredibly concerned. "My plane's burning up, stay away from the south end of the camp. I'm ditching this bitch!" Zeppelin stopped talking over the radio.

"Come on, we've got to cover him! He's going to crash right into the Dracs holding up back there!" Cutlass furrowed his brow and hurried out the door, not waiting for Phoenix Fury. Phoenix hurried after him, aiming his gun, feeling the pain in his shoulder intensifying with each moment that continued from where the Scarecrow had sunk his teeth into his skin. He had a feeling there was some kind of muscle damage done, or that Korse was poisonous. While he had no legitimate proof to that fact, he felt like it was possible some kind of venom was coursing through his veins thanks to the man who had bitten him.

"He's coming down hard!" Cutlass shouted, hurrying toward the soon to be crash site. Phoenix Fury grabbed Cutlass by the arm and they both ducked to the ground quickly as the plane came in very suddenly and smashed hard into the dirt. It wasn't like in old movies where everything exploded and caught on fire, it was more a mess of gears and metallic pieces breaking apart from the impact on the ground. There was a small fire and explosion from the fuel source and the engine falling to pieces, but it was quickly extinguished by the pouring rain.

"Zeppelin!" Phoenix shouted in distress.

"Look!" Cutlass grabbed Phoenix's arm and stumbled to his feet. Zeppelin Rocket was falling from the sky with a parachute. He was bloodied up, but seemed alright, aiming his gun on the way down to keep the Dracs from destroying his parachute too early. Phoenix and Cutlass ran to catch up with the man descending from the sky and helped him land safely and ditch the parachute.

"You alright, Zeppelin?" Cutlass asked out of breath once they'd managed to detach the chute from Zeppelin Rocket's back.

"Sugar's going to be pissed." Zeppelin Rocket laughed in reference to his girlfriend out in the zones. He was bleeding from his forehead, it was dripping down his neck and his jacket was torn, his arms bloodied from the damage being in the plane had caused him.

"We'll get you back to Jet-Star." Phoenix slipped his arm under Zeppelin's and started to help him limp toward what remained of the entrance of the camp. Detonation Punx joined them soon with Screaming Extinction's overly thin frame draped in a similar fashion over her arm. Screaming Extinction looked barely conscious.

Bad Medicine was running up to the group of them, carrying a small first aid kit with her, but it was clear that kit wouldn't be nearly enough to cover the damage that had been done between the group of Killjoys who had been wounded within the camp.

"Oh lord, you guys!" Bad Medicine widened her eyes in shock seeing the blood dripping from three of the five Killjoys coming toward her. Captain Phantom and another girl in baggy black jeans, with brown hair, blue eyes and pale skin were running toward the group, guns aimed but not firing. It seemed as though they'd gotten the advantage over the Dracs now, and laser fire was dying down.

"They're falling back! Korse is holding the Dracs in the second zone but it's not looking good for them." Captain Phantom reported proudly a smug smirk on her face. "This is Vanilla Octopus, she's come with Colored Chaos to report the damage done in the second zone. We're holding up well out there. The Dracs left in the third zone are being captured or picked off like flies."

"We've got a lot of wounded out there, but everyone's mostly on their feet." Vanilla Octopus looked nervous but excited to be in the thick of the battle. Bad Medicine was looking over Screaming Extinction and Zeppelin Rocket while they walked. She looked more concerned about Extinction than Zeppelin and was hurrying them along, trying to get them to where Jet-Star had hunkered down with Cosmic Karma and Black Cherrybomb.

Picking up the radio, Phoenix couldn't help but feel satisfied that their plan had worked. "Killjoys, keep up the pace. We're taking the upper hand."

"Don't get too comfortable." Fun Ghoul's voice came in over the radio after a moment, sounding strained. The group stopped in their tracks outside of the front of the camp. "Look to the north west." Phoenix, Cutlass and Phantom made sure that the others were taken care of before running around what remained of the camp to look out in the direction Fun Ghoul had directed them toward. In the distance were reinforcements of Dracs, hundreds of them lined up and headed their way. The trio stood and stared in awe at the group of Dracs that was coming to assist Korse's army.

"Killjoys." Phoenix picked up his radio hesitantly and spoke seriously. "Pick off what remains of the Dracs here. Regroup… and prepare for the second wave." Phoenix closed his eyes, took a deep breath then looked between Phantom and Cutlass who looked eager to know what they were going to do next. "If you have any ideas, I'd like to hear them."

"We still have some explosives." Captain Phantom suggested after a moment lost in thought. "We lay down a preliminary line. It'll at least buy us some time."

"Make it happen."


	37. Boom

While the first two floors of Better Living Industries seemed harmless and benign, the third floor showed more of the malevolent and horrific things that happened within their organization. It was all about appearances for a company like Better Living Industries and to get this far into the building, you had to _know_ what was going on already. At least that's what could be assumed by the warning signs on the wall and the cameras in each corner. There were instructions near the stairwell on how to handle _patients_. Knowing it wasn't a medical facility of any kind made that fact seem far more disturbing. Now that she'd come this far Fire Frenzy had the feeling she could've used the backup that Marilyn and Nation would have provided her with. _They have plenty to deal with on their own right now._

Fire Frenzy felt guilty for leaving Marilyn Deathrow and Death-iNation to deal with Instigator and Obliterator on their own but she'd felt that she had no choice. Death-iNation had seemed to agree with her, given the glance he'd thrown her before she'd headed up to the third floor. If she had died fighting those experiments with them then she wouldn't get to do what they'd intended. She had to remember her cause, and what was really at stake here. _This is more important than them and it's more important than you. Don't lose sight of the main goal. You must atone for their sins._

Not being religious, Fire Frenzy still believed in the idea of sin. What she didn't believe in was the fact that there was some higher being judging them for their sins. Marilyn and Nation were willing to _sacrifice_ themselves for her cause and she wasn't going to let them down. In fact, they had seemed so willing that they had taken on the cause as if it had been theirs. It was almost validation to Frenzy, that she wasn't as out of her mind as most people treated her.

Closing her eyes to keep her focus, Frenzy continued to walk through the halls of the third floor, listening to the sounds of the chaos happening on the floor below her. With her eyes closed it was harder to get distracted from the task at hand. With her eyes closed, her goal was all that mattered. In her mind she was concentrating on the floor plans she'd spent time memorizing in Death-iNation's apartment while she'd been discussing personal things with Marilyn. If she kept walking to the end of this particular hallway she would reach the computer labs and another stairwell where she could make a speedy exit if she so desired.

She assumed the exit was there in case of an electrical fire and in case anyone broke in, security would be able to access the area faster to stop the intruders. There was probably a lock or key code of some kind required to gain access to the stairway otherwise it would leave the computers vulnerable to infiltration from outside sources.

Little did Better Living Industries know how much having that staircase was going to help Frenzy send any _patients_ she found to freedom. It seemed as though the reinforcements the speaker overhead, which had stopped alerting them of intruders, had promised were simply the experiments she'd met in the movie theater. Though Frenzy wondered where the brother who had attacked her so viciously and who had promised her he'd prove that vampires existed was, she couldn't be bothered to worry about it for long. Right now Frenzy had to concentrate only on hacking the computers. Anything else would start to make her paranoid, and she didn't have the time to lose it.

Opening her eyes after walking halfway down the hall, Frenzy stopped and found another support beam. Walking up to it she examined it and tried to recall where the last bomb she had planted had been and brushed her scarred palm against it. Now that she had her eyes open, Frenzy could see how truly terrifying this floor of the building was. The third floor was eerie and empty, the only sounds being the occasional clicking of something unknown down the hall.

There were hospital rooms on either side of the hallway and large Operating Rooms near the elevators she'd passed on the way down the hall. At the opposite end of the hallway, which she hadn't approached yet, there was what looked like a row of prison cells. Stopping to lean against the support beam as she contemplated where to plant her bomb, Frenzy listened closely to the sounds of the third floor, hoping to adjust to them. She could hear voices at the end of the hall; they were quiet and hushed, whispers most likely, but voices nonetheless. They were strained but there was clearly the voice of someone talking at the end of the hall near the cells, or perhaps within them.

"It'll be okay, I'm going to get us out of here. You just have to have some faith!" The voice sounded comforting but Frenzy could hear something else familiar in it: false hope. How many times had Fire Frenzy found children, and sometimes even adults, dying after the experiments and torture they'd suffered at the hands of Better Living Industries, when the experiments had failed and there was no more use for them? How many times had she allowed them to rest with their heads in her lap so they felt comforted until they passed? How many times had she assured them hopelessly that things would be okay and they'd get out of the hell they were experiencing alive and find their peace after so much struggle? She couldn't remember _how many times_ and found that it bothered her.

_How sick do you have to be to forget that? Maybe you've become desensitized to it now, after it having happened so many times. Or maybe you're a sociopath. No, that's not possible. I'm not like that._ Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Frenzy tried to concentrate on the task at hand rather than the possibility of finding people near death in the cells nearby.

Now was not the time to be mourning the dead when she could save the living; there was plenty of time for that later. _You're so close, Frenzy. You're almost free and so are they. Just a few more steps, a few more breaths and everything you worked for all these years will be at your fingertips_. _But to what end? People are dying, and people will continue to die. Are all the lives I've watched fade away into gray dead eyes worth what's about to happen?_ There was no erasing _those_ words from the thoughts in her mind. No one was telling her it was worth it now and no one was telling her she was selfish for thinking the way she was. _It has to be worth it. There are no other choices._

Instead of planting the block of C4 on the support beam as she had originally planned, Frenzy chose to instead check out the cells at the end before making any final decisions. She had a feeling that the explosive would be needed for something entirely different than intended. Approaching noiselessly through the hallway, holding her ray gun in one hand and the explosive clay in the other hand, Frenzy reached the cells. While she didn't _want_ to see what waited within them, she knew she had to look and investigate each one of them, just in case any of the occupants were alive.

Most of the prisoners in the cells were already too far beyond help for Frenzy to hope she could do any good. Turning her eyes away Frenzy's lip curled in disgust. If it had been ten years ago she would've gotten queasy, but she'd been through worse than this and it merely disgusted her, but not to the point of illness. They were still alive, these prisoners, but barely breathing, and barely recognizable from the children they had been before they'd been experimented on by Better Living Industries for the _greater good_. Knowing what she had to help them, Frenzy concentrated on the voices that grew louder as she approached and now the addition of soft crying that she could hear from the last cell in the hall on the right side.

"Shh, shh… It's okay." The young girl's voice was fragile but trying to be strong for the source of the tears that were apparently within the same cell.

"They're coming for us, Grace…" The sobbing voice of a little boy choked as they realized someone was approaching them. Grace and the male voice quieted and stayed silent, but they'd already been heard. Frenzy approached the cell and saw Grace standing protectively in front of a little boy, ready to defend him if necessary. Her clothing was torn and she had needle marks along her arms. Frenzy tried to ignore the bloodied markings and bruising on the girl's body and instead chose to look toward the boy who was huddling behind her.

His arm was missing, a bloody stump wrapped up in a gauze was all that remained, half sewn back together in a hastened manner as though someone had to rush to finish their work, or didn't care to do a decent job. He looked like he didn't have a lot of fight left within him, and was clinging to the little girl in front of him in hopes she had some fight to spare. Grace immediately recognized Fire Frenzy and perked up, letting her defenses down. The spunk that Frenzy had so admired from the girl was back. It had troubled Frenzy to see it had disappeared from her eyes. She couldn't blame her though after what she'd been presumably exposed to by Better Living Industries.

"You came for me! You're out of your mind!" Grace smiled and ran to the bars of the cell, but didn't touch them. Turning to look back at the little boy, Grace was hoping to instill courage and hope within him as she spoke. "Aaron, this is the lady I was telling you about before! See, I told you she wouldn't let me rot in here! She'll get us out, I know it." Feeling a swell of pride that the little girl had such faith in her, Fire Frenzy reached for the lock on the bars. Before Grace could warn her, Frenzy felt an electrical shock surge through her body and fell back, hand singed, but luckily having pulled her hand away instead of grasping onto it firmly.

"It's electrified!" Aaron chimed in, even though the fact was obvious to them all now. Though the boy was weak and fragile, he found Grace's courage contagious and was standing next to her now, watching Frenzy through the bars.

"Thanks." Frenzy coughed, her fingers tingling as she picked herself up off of the ground after having recovered from the sensation being electrocuted had left her with. She could taste iron in the back of her throat. Spitting to the side in hopes of getting rid of the taste, Frenzy turned her attention back to the electrified prison cell.

"Are you okay?" Grace looked worried. "I'm sorry I didn't warn you. It got me the first time too." Grace held up her blackened hands as proof.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine okay? I'm going to get you out of this place, there's just something I have to do before we can leave."

"Please don't leave us here alone…" Aaron had big blue eyes that looked hopefully up at Fire Frenzy, pleading not to be left alone in that hell, obviously not believing she would ever come back to them. All these kids wanted was someone to care about them, someone to love them and save them from the hell they'd endured. Fire Frenzy couldn't help but want to at least help with part of that.

"Hey." Frenzy knelt down to be eye level with Aaron and Grace through the bars. "I just meant that you have to come with me while I finish up in here before we can bail." Aaron gave her a weak smile, to show he appreciated her gesture. "Now, I need you two to get as far back as you can and turn that bed on its side. Hide behind it. I'm going to blow the lock to this cell and hopefully disable the electric defenses in the process." Knowing she was risking getting electrocuted again in the process, Frenzy pulled the C4 apart, leaving only a small part of it in her hand. She put it against the lock of the door and luckily didn't feel the shock she expected to feel. Pushing the detonator within the clay, Frenzy backed down the hallway and hid behind the support beam. It was one less beam that she'd blow up, but she was sure she had enough on the first two floors to take down the entire building when the time had come. "Are you two ready in there? You've turned the bed on its side and ducked down behind it? Cover your ears too, okay? It's going to be really loud."

"Yes." Grace responded after a moment of shuffling in the cell to get Aaron safely behind the steel bed that had been provided for the experiments to rest on between operations. Frenzy closed her eyes and pushed the plug on the detonator key she'd pulled out of the bag hanging over her shoulder. There was a small explosion against the bars of the cell and the door swung open with minimal debris just as Frenzy had hoped.

Fire Frenzy shoved the used detonator into her pocket and walked over to the cell she'd just opened. Grace had her arm around Aaron and was helping him up from where they were hidden during the explosion behind the steel frame of the bed that had been pushed all the way back against the wall from the force of the explosion. Frenzy noted the markings on Grace's arms once again, clear needle marks from whatever Better Living Industries had done to her. _They weren't going to try to use her as leverage at all. In the end she was just another experiment, like all the others before her. Are they really that arrogant? They didn't want to keep their only bargaining chip with me because they don't know what I'm capable of. They'll be sorry they made the wrong decision. I would've given up everything to save her, including this plan of mine._

"I have to do one more thing before we continue on, okay?" Frenzy repeated, knowing she couldn't leave the half-dead children and other experiments lying in the cells. Before she moved onto the computers, she had to set them free as well. She couldn't let Grace and Aaron watch what she was about to do, either. The children were already scarred, this would only make it worse.

She could just leave them to rot in their cells, but her conscience would eat her alive before she could get her work done. What she was about to do was the only humane thing she could think of. How many times had she done this in the past? Put the tortured out of their misery? _There's nothing else I can do for them but this. It's the only way I can save them. The same way you can't save yourself right? You're overcompensating. That has nothing to do with it. I simply aim to help them._ "I need you to walk back over there okay? By that pillar okay? Don't look back." Frenzy pointed to the support beam where she'd been planning to lay the brick of C4 before she'd found Grace and Aaron.

"What are you going to do?" Grace whispered, afraid to leave Fire Frenzy's side though Frenzy was positive the girl wouldn't admit such a thing if asked.

"Just go over to the beam and turn your back to me. Don't turn around no matter what you hear okay? I'll be fine and it will only take a moment." Grace looked hesitant but nodded to let Frenzy know she understood and led Aaron to where Frenzy had instructed them to go. Staring at the children as they walked toward the pillar, Frenzy contemplated what she had to do. Pulling her gun from its holster she approached the cell across from Aaron and Grace's. Lying on the uncomfortable looking bed was a barely recognizable little girl. The only reason Frenzy knew it was a little girl was because of the pink gel sandals she had upon her feet. While Frenzy didn't have enough detonators to blow each of the doors open she had good enough aim to end their misery through the bars with a single shot.

Holding the gun through the bars she aimed at the little girl's head and pulled the trigger without closing her eyes. The body of the little girl fell still after a sickening thud of laser against flesh. The next cell had another little girl, sheets bloodied, shivering uncontrollably from some kind of fit or fever. When Frenzy held her gun up the girl opened her eyes and pleaded with Frenzy to end it, to save her. Hesitating for only a moment, Frenzy held her gun steady then pulled the trigger. The other five cells were the same story, some teenagers or kids tortured and experimented on half alive, half pleading with her to save them and half pleading with her to end it. Frenzy pulled the trigger on each one, time after time. Staring at the last cell as the form that had once been inside laid still, she slipped the gun back in its holster. There was sobbing at the other end of the hall, she tilted her head to the side and saw Grace holding her hands over Aaron's ears to help drown out the sound of gunshots.

Walking up to the kids she'd left to wait for her, Frenzy thought it'd be best not to acknowledge what she'd done. They didn't have time to deal with the fallout of mercy killings on the adolescent psyche. When they were in the clear and safe from the overbearing arms of Better Living Industries it'd be a different story.

"Come on. Stay close behind me. I'm almost done here and then you're free." Fire Frenzy contemplated sending them downstairs to escape but didn't trust they'd make it out alive on their own. Not with Instigator and Obliterator downstairs and definitely when she had no idea where that third crazier brother was. No, Frenzy would do what she had to do and make sure the kids found their way to Marilyn before she finished up.

"What are you going to do?" Grace whispered, hurrying behind Frenzy despite how pained her walking was. Her voice was thick with emotion and sorrow. Aaron was still sobbing but limping along with Grace as they stayed behind Frenzy. Despite what Frenzy had just done, they still seemed to trust her.

"You'll see." Saying her plan out loud would be bad luck. She may not have seen many movies in her lifetime but she knew well enough that every time the villain in a story revealed their plan it was somehow thwarted nearly immediately afterward. Though her life was no movie, she wasn't going to risk it. It was better to leave Better Living Industries in the dark and leave her plan in her head, for no one else to know of until it had been done with.

"Fire Frenzy?" Grace said after a moment of walking closely behind the woman. Frenzy closed turned the corner, her hand on her holster, leading the kids forward.

"Yes, Grace?"

"Why'd you come back for me? You didn't have to." Grace sounded, for the first time since Frenzy had met her, like a scared little girl. Frenzy stopped walking before the entry hall computer room and turned to face her. Not having much of a logical answer for the little girl, Frenzy wasn't sure what to say. _Somehow saying I couldn't have another child's death on my conscience doesn't seem right. You just killed all those kids in the cells, she wouldn't believe you anyway. The fact that she's still following me at all after that says something for her to begin with._

"You came back for me didn't you?" Frenzy offered as an explanation. Grace was fighting some kind of child-like emotion and Frenzy wasn't sure how to react. _Should I hug her? Tell her it's all going to be okay? What if she ends up like me after this? I remember that face she's making now, that pained expression of trying to hold back tears and fears in the dark of some alley because I needed to be strong. It made me weak, that idea that being unable to feel would save me. That is what set me up to fail. Now you can't deal with much of anything can you? This girl deserves better than you._ "It's okay." Frenzy wasn't good at comforting _anyone_ nonetheless a child. Hesitantly Frenzy gave the girl a reassuring and awkward pat on the shoulder. "I knew what they'd do to you if I left you to them. You fought damn hard to get out of that theater even before I found you there. You chose to come after me even though you could've been free. It only makes sense that I'd return the favor I owed you. Come on kid, we're going to get you out of here. You and your friend. The killjoys will be good to you. Trust me, I know a guy who is going to treat you like a fucking prince and princess."

Returning to her full height since Fire Frenzy was pretty sure that she couldn't think of anything else comforting to say, she fell suddenly on her backside as Grace wrapped her arms around her torso in a hug. Unsure of how to reciprocate at first, Frenzy merely stared at the girl's fluffy hair in shock before returning the kind gesture, still awkwardly. _Yeah, second thoughts about this? Completely gone._

The little boy didn't know what the two had been through, but Fire Frenzy had a feeling that Grace had told him what had happened to her so far so he threw his arms around her as well. They were both feeling grateful to her even though she'd taken those lives in the hallway. _This is why you're doing this, remember? Those little kids on the street? The ones that you called your friends even though they didn't understand you? The ones who would share food with you even though they thought you were weird? These are the same kids and they deserve better than what Better Living Industries is offering them._

"We have to get going." Frenzy cleared her throat after a moment of awkward hugging. The two kids pulled back from her and Frenzy got back onto her feet, dusting off her skirt, even though it hadn't gotten any messier than it already was.

"We do." Grace smiled, that determined look back on her face. Frenzy was relieved. She didn't like how the girl had looked so damn defeated.

"The computers are right up here, past this entryway. Stay close to me alright? You never know what can be creeping around these walls." Walking around the corner and into the large room filled with computer desks and computers aligning the back wall, Frenzy knew this was her destination. This was judgment day for Better Living Industries. It wouldn't take them out entirely but it'd cripple their entire corporation and give the Killjoys a chance to really take them down. While she wasn't sure the Killjoys would get it together in time to finish them off, she had faith that Party Poison was too stubborn to let such an opportunity slide. _He really is a shameful opportunist._

Without acknowledging her, Grace and Aaron stood at her backside. The computers were already on, password screen flickering. Frenzy would have to hack the security screens and while computers had never been her strong suit since she hadn't bothered to keep them around in her bunker, she knew enough about breaking and entering in the digital age to get past the password screen so she could at least run the program that Death-iNation had given her. It would've been easier if Death-iNation was with her here to do it, but she had been initially prepared to do it alone and could continue to do so.

Tapping on the keyboard Frenzy kept her senses alert while she attempted to hack the password screen. Grace and Aaron were obviously keeping watch too and trying to cover her. She should've brought an extra weapon of some kind with her so she could arm these kids, but she hadn't thought of it while preparing. While Frenzy believed childhood should be childhood and kids probably shouldn't be playing with guns the circumstances seemed fitting. Finally the screen flickered and the computer system started to load, signaling that Fire Frenzy had managed to successfully hack into the computers. Much to her surprise, no alarm system went off letting everyone in the building know what she had done. She had half expected the computers to lock down or the power to be disabled but instead the screens loaded like clockwork.

Death-iNation hadn't been kidding about the arrogance of the organization. Better Living Industries had such little faith in the Killjoys ability to make it this far that they hadn't put any sort of failsafe on their computers in case someone got inside the building to hack into them. Arrogance was the downfall of every major dictatorship, at least in Frenzy's opinion. Slipping the thumb drive out of the pocket hidden in her corset, Frenzy slipped it into the USB drive in the back of the computer's tower.

Opening the drive in a window on the computer, she double clicked the program Death-iNation had referred to and put in the password he'd given to her in reference to Marilyn Monroe. _God he's a walking cliché. In love with a prostitute and writing love notes to her in his computer programming. I'd tease him if I didn't respect the hell out of him for making this virus and helping me the way he has, when he certainly didn't owe me anything. In fact, I owe him. I should've left a will leaving him all the money I've stolen or something. Well, it's too late for that now._

"Is that…?" Aaron's pained voice met her ears and he seemed to recognize what Fire Frenzy was doing, without her having to explain a thing. Frenzy nodded in response to the little boy and finished with the password. The screens around her flickered and the computers started to scramble.

"…Frenzy you realize what this means right? You know what this will do?" Grace sounded excited as she realized what the program on the computer was going to do.

"Yes, I do." Frenzy whispered and got down on her knees to get below the table holding up the computer monitors. Pulling out the last bricks of C4, Fire Frenzy attached them to the back of the computers all along the wall, along with the extra C4 she hadn't used when she'd opened the prison cell that Grace and Aaron had been held in.

Stopping very suddenly, Frenzy felt the ground beneath her shake. Something had exploded beneath her and the building creaked horribly, threatening to crash to the ground even though Frenzy hadn't set off a single explosive. Swallowing nervously, Frenzy wondered how Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow were holding up against Instigator down below. Somehow, Frenzy knew things weren't going very well. _You can't think about them right now, Frenzy. You've got to finish this before you can think about anyone else. Burn this place to the ground, where it belongs. Purify it in the fire._

"What was that? Frenzy, what was that?" Grace sounded nervous and excited but partially panicked. Apparently she'd realized the gravity of what Fire Frenzy had planned to do and was torn between being terrified by the new trembling of the building around them and the potential freedom of the entire City and the zones around it.

"I don't know, Grace." Frenzy rose to her full height and offered both of her hands to the kids, who took them instinctively. "Come on, let's get you two out of here before this places comes crashing down." Frenzy started guiding them toward the doorway at the end of the room that would lead them down the stairs that would bring them directly to the ground, bypassing the fight below them.

"Did you think it'd be that easy?" Frenzy froze at the sound of the familiar voice of Destroyer from the other end of the room. Cringing and momentarily considering running down the stairs to get away, Frenzy decided that'd be stupid. Turning to face him, Frenzy urged Grace and Aaron to stand behind her, hidden as much as they could be from Destroyer, not that it would do any good.

"I don't think anything is _ever_ this easy." Frenzy responded to him quickly, trying to devise a plan in her mind. Just seeing her attacker made her body ache at the memory of the pain he'd inflicted upon her. He'd bitten her and clawed her and treated her like some kind of dog's chew toy. _He won't get the satisfaction of doing that to me this time._

"Good. I'd be disappointed if you were that stupid." Destroyer grinned, starting slowly toward Fire Frenzy as if expecting her to lash out in rage. Instead, Frenzy turned quickly to the kids and crouched low to them. She flipped her gun out of its holster, grabbing the barrel of it and aiming the handle away from her and handed it to Grace.

"Go down the stairs, get out of here. When you get out, run, run as fast as you fucking can okay? Don't listen to what anyone has to say and if anyone stops you, you shoot them in the fucking face. Don't you hesitate, you pull the trigger. If you have a hard time with that think of what they did to those kids back there and you'll find the strength. You don't answer to anyone who isn't a Killjoy got it?" Frenzy shoved the gun into her hand when Grace didn't immediately take it from her.

"I'm not leaving you with him again. Not after what he did to you last time." Grace furrowed her brow and Aaron nodded to agree with her.

"Come on, do you really think I'm going to let him get at me again? Fuck no. If you're here, he'll use you against me. I need you to go and stay out of the way." Fire Frenzy offered a smile, a real genuine smile to the kids. It was something she hadn't been sure she could do since she'd left the Killjoy camp so smiling at these kids gave her the boost of confidence she needed. "Now go." Frenzy got to her feet and pulled the flamethrower off of her back, fully prepared to give the kids enough time to get away before she blew the place to pieces.

Grace and Aaron stared at Fire Frenzy for just long enough to realize she wasn't going to back down before they hurried into the stairwell behind them and down the stairs inside them.

"You think I'm going to go after them do you? Why would I go after them when there's perfectly fresh meat right here?" Destroyer cocked his head to the side and gave Frenzy a twitch of a smile. His teeth were covered in blood, some of them chipped and broken. _Where has he been all this time? What has he been doing?_

"I think you… already have a taste for something other than children." Fire Frenzy started to slowly walk around the perimeter of the room, not pulling her eyes away from the man in front of her.

"They've been hunting me…" Destroyer's hands were caked in blood, his clothing torn. "I killed them all you know… Just to get to you… to find you after you got away from me."

"To me? To what do I owe the honor then?" Frenzy's sarcasm didn't show on her face. She was trying to think of how she could keep Destroyer talking long enough for Grace and Aaron to escape. Hopefully Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow would realize what was going on above them and would make their escape as well. Secretly, Fire Frenzy was hoping that Marilyn Deathrow would see the kids and help them to safety and keep them protected. While an underage prostitute wasn't exactly the most ideal of babysitters, she knew that the woman would make sure the kids were safe. _Well, and a psychotic pyromaniac isn't really the best mentor either, so it seems like a step up from me._

"You're bleeding…" Destroyer circled the room as well to keep on her eye level, deciding that standing off with Frenzy was his best option. He'd clearly underestimated her before since she'd gotten away with her life and all of her limbs the last time they'd met. This time she would not get away so easily. He would make her beg for death by the time he was finished with her.

"I know. Thanks for your concern." Fire Frenzy had realized the wound on her leg had started to bleed again before they'd even gotten into the Central Command building. She'd been walking for too long on such a fresh wound that the scab that had formed while she'd been unconscious at Death-iNation's apartment had tore and began to bleed into the wrapping on her leg. She'd chosen to ignore it rather than deal with it since she figured that taking the time to deal with it would only take away from what needed to be done. Besides, the wound wasn't bad enough to bother her and it didn't seem to matter what kind of scar it would leave.

"You're limping… I can smell the blood… it must be where I bit you then? Somehow I just knew that would leave a mark." Destroyer brought his hands to his lips and let his unusually elongated tongue lap up the dried and crusted blood on his fingertips, which now that she had time to observe, Frenzy noticed were more like claws than like fingers. "Your flesh was… far sweeter than the children in the theater… I'd grown tired of them before you showed up, you know. You set me _free_ from all of that."

"Well, my apologies then." Fire Frenzy narrowed her eyes, tired of the games he was playing with her. He was trying to sicken her and get her to drop her guard to him. He'd found her soft spot in that theater but now that the children were nowhere to be found, she wasn't going to lose her cool so easily. When she was on her game, it was much easier for her to focus, but when her mind started to wander, she usually got her ass kicked.

Destroyer was walking toward the computers that were flickering while the virus continued destroying the data on the hard drive. If she could get Destroyer to stand in front of the computers and keep him talking long enough for the virus to finish its job then she could blow the computers and Destroyer in the same breath, killing two birds with one stone or at least buying her some time and giving her an advantage.

"You're afraid of me." Destroyer was confident and cocky, his eyes filled with hunger and lust which Frenzy ignored to the best of her ability. She tried to remember how out of his mind he had been. Turning her back to him, Frenzy flipped the flamethrower on and unleashed the fiery napalm onto the tables and desks behind her. The fire quickly caught onto the wall hangings and wallpaper, spreading throughout the room. Pulling her bandana over her face to prevent inhaling too much smoke, Frenzy had become used to the feeling of her lungs being deprived of air from the smoke created by her fires, but still wanted to prevent passing out for as long as she could.

"Am I?" Frenzy was laying down the ground work to her brilliant ending, setting the fire she hoped would take down the building entirely in the end. She had been planning this moment since she had first gotten her lighter as a kid. The lighter in her pocket had given her the courage and power to make it this far.

"You're terrified of what I'll do to you." Destroyer smirked, his dark eyes staring across the room at Fire Frenzy, enjoying taunting her.

"I think you… are too confident. It makes you sound pathetic when you're wrong." Frenzy couldn't help but smile as she saw the computer screens behind Destroyer blinking to let her know that the hard drives were completely erased and corrupted. Slowly moving through the room, occasionally burning some object in her way, Frenzy continued to lure Destroyer closer to the computers. Maybe while he was alone she could get the best of him.

When his brother and sister had been there to help him, the situation had been considerably more terrifying. With any luck, Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow could escape with their lives and trap Obliterator and Instigator in the rooms below. If she could kill these three experiments in the blast that would destroy the building then maybe it'd be three less monsters for the Killjoys to deal with in the aftermath of what she'd just done.

"I think the same of you. You're far too confident for a wounded woman." Destroyer spoke only loud enough for Frenzy to hear and leaned against the computers, sitting on the keyboards mounted to the wall that she'd manipulated earlier. "What? You think that I care about this computer that you were messing around with? I was watching you when you were putting that program in. I could've killed you then when you had your guard down, but I didn't. You know, you and I are far more alike than you think we are."

"We are _nothing_ alike." Frenzy didn't move any further, not wanting to distract Destroyer from where he sat. She had no gun to defend herself with. She had no way to take Destroyer out from where she was other than her flamethrower which would do her very little good. Close combat seemed out of the question. If she were to attempt hand to hand combat she'd be easily overwhelmed, so the thought didn't even cross her mind. While she doubted the blast would kill Destroyer, she could at least weaken him and give herself a fighting chance against him.

"You don't think so? I do. We both want to save the orphans, isn't that enough? Surely, I thought you'd see that."

"Save them? You think what you were doing was saving them? You have some seriously twisted views of what they need then."

"You shot the children in those cells back there." Destroyer narrowed his eyes dangerously. _How long has he been watching me?_ "You do the same thing that I do you just call it justice while I take pleasure in it. We're _exactly_ alike."

"I was putting them out of their misery you were torturing them! There's a huge difference!" Frenzy knew she was _nothing_ like this man, why was she doubting herself so suddenly? What was he trying to do? Why wasn't he just killing her? Surely that was what he wanted out of this. Was this some sick sort of torture he'd planned beforehand? "If this is going to be some pathetic attempt to get me to join you or something then you can forget it. The only thing we have in common is we want to see each other's brains splattered on the goddamn wall and you know it. So stop playing mind games with me and get to it."

"You have _no idea_ what I am, little girl. You don't know what I've seen, what I've been through! You're as out of your mind as I am, I can taste it… I can fucking smell it!" Destroyer licked his lips ravenously. Frenzy laughed and let the flamethrower hang at her side by the strap she used to keep it attached to her back when she wasn't using it. "Why the hell are you _laughing_?" Destroyer seemed irritated that she wasn't taking him seriously. He twitched again. Whatever lucidity he had was fading by the second. Frenzy knew that she didn't have much time left before he made his move.

"Why?" Frenzy slipped her hand into the bag on her shoulder and pulled out the detonators she had rigged up to the computers that Destroyer was now leaning against.

"That's what I _said_ you arrogant little bitch. Stop laughing, stop laughing, stop laughing! I'll _make_ you stop laughing if you don't stop now and I'll squeeze those vocal cords between my fingers until you can't laugh _anymore ever again_." Destroyer was losing it, and very quickly at that. "Why are you laughing? Why? Why? Why? Tell me!" Destroyer snarled, his lips parting unnaturally in a large and crooked sneer, tongue hanging over his lips as he panted.

"Because I know something you don't know." Frenzy said in a sing-song voice and before he had the chance to respond to her taunt, Frenzy pressed the plunger on the detonators. The computers exploded one after another, engulfing the entire half of the room in flames almost instantly. The windows burst out behind Fire Frenzy from the force and the sound of the blast left her feeling deaf. Debris flew at her and she ducked low to the ground, covering her head protectively, it was all she could do to avoid it. Her bag slipped off of her shoulders as she found the force of the explosion shoving her backwards.

"What the hell?" Vengeful Venom stopped in the hallway of the first floor when he felt the building above him tremble and sway. He'd blown up the computers and test tubes that had belong to the Instigate Obliterate Destroy project only moments before and the building had shook a little bit, but only because of how he'd been right on top of the foundation. This was an entirely different kind of trembling, the kind that threatened to bring the stability of this building to its knees. The building couldn't take another blow. One more explosion like that and it'd collapse and kill everyone left inside of it. He'd have to hurry and get the others out before that happened.

He'd done what he could for IOD and while he knew he'd done something good by destroying the items that had been used to test them initially he knew his work was far from finished. He'd go upstairs and help the other Killjoys escape if he could and with any luck whatever projects that were trapped inside of this building would be taken down when it collapsed around them. While he ran through the hallways where the power had finally failed, trying to remember his surroundings in the darkness, the building shook a second time. Something above was collapsing, caving in on itself. Something at the other end of the building had given and the entire building above him swayed and groaned again menacingly. He could smell smoke coming from above and guessed that someone must have set something on fire.

Whatever was going on above him was growing more and more urgent, he had to hurry and get upstairs so he could help. Before Venom could reach the stairwell, something grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled him backwards and threw him onto the ground. Vengeful Venom wouldn't have a chance to get up the stairs before the building fell, not now. Something inside of him knew what had thrown him to the ground. The force had somehow seemed familiar; Obliterator had found him.

* * *

><p>Marilyn Deathrow and Death-iNation were hiding behind cubicles from Instigator to stay out of her way, trying to keep their minds closed to her prying thoughts when the explosion rocked the building above them. Grabbing onto Marilyn's arm, Death-iNation grabbed her quickly and instinctively ran through the cubicles to the other end of the building and just in time. Something fiery had come rocketing out of the floor above them and crashed to the first floor from the force of the blow. Debris flew all around the room, destroying the place where they'd been standing only moments prior. Now that the integrity of the building had been threatened it wouldn't be much longer before the entire thing collapsed.<p>

"Fire Frenzy." Marilyn Deathrow was half afraid that the something that had flown through the ceiling had been the woman they were trying to buy time for, but they weren't in much of a position to investigate. Luckily, the explosion seemed to have distracted Instigator just as much as it had distracted her so she hadn't gotten the upper hand in the process of it. Instead of going after them while they were running to the opposite end of the building in the open, Instigator stared up at the ceiling in reaction to the explosion. Missing the perfect opportunity to target the two she was fighting, she tried to focus on the scene above her. She seemed torn with what she wanted to do. Something was up there that she wanted, but she clearly also wanted to stay on the second floor and take care of them while she had the chance.

"Come on, while she's distracted." Death-iNation grabbed his ray gun and started blowing out the windows as they ran past them. If the room was going to fill with smoke and catch fire now that the sprinkler system seemed disabled and the power had died with the explosion, they needed the air that the windows would provide to them. Though the oxygen would fuel the fire that was creeping quickly from the third floor and across the ceiling, Death-iNation was hoping that they could escape the building before the fire had melted the steel frame of the building enough to have the thing sandwich them between the ground and the floors above.

* * *

><p>Party Poison grabbed onto Rainbow Riot protectively when the building shook in front of them and hid her behind one of the k-rails blocking the road in front of Central Command. Debris of broken glass and miscellaneous office furniture flew out of the third floor windows with the explosion that rocked the entire city around them. Some of the roadways were collapsing from the trembling that had been created by the sway of the building. Leaning his head up from behind the car he stared in awe at the building, watching as parts of it collapsed to pieces, but enough of it remained standing for it to keep from collapsing entirely on itself. Suddenly windows on the second floor began to break and they could see the flashes of laser fire within. There was some kind of epic battle going on inside.<p>

"Shit, shit! Fire Frenzy!" Rainbow Riot got up from where Poison had hidden her after she was sure the debris had been done falling from the sky, more concerned for her friend's well being than her own. Party Poison wasn't as confident that the debris was finished with them now that he saw the second floor windows shattering, but he also was willing to take the risk of getting hit with some of it on the way to the front door. "Poison what if we're too late? What if she's already gone?" Rain was pouring down in the City around them, but the tall buildings had protected its inhabitants from the bulk of the dust storm. The wind however, was whipping them around far worse than it would be in the zone. The buildings seemed to create a sort of wind tunnel effect.

"We're not too late." Party Poison didn't consider it an option and refused to argue that it was at all possible. _What if she's already dead in there? What if her plan backfired and Better Living Industries killed her? I can't think about this bullshit right now. I'll worry about it later, right now I've got to get my game face on and concentrate on my goal. It's party time._ Pulling out his ray gun, Poison pulled the yellow mask over his eyes and wrapped the red and black scarf around his face. Nodding to Rainbow Riot he hoped she would do the same. She did so and pulled the goggles she wore on the top of her head over her eyes and wrapped the polka dot bandana around her mouth before returning Poison's nod.

"Let's go." Rainbow Riot didn't wait for Party Poison before heading toward the front doors which they could see were destroyed as they grew closer to the building. Clearly someone had broken in before them, but if the explosions above hadn't been enough to tell them that then they would've been clueless. The two of them ran quickly into the building, through the broken glass, with every intention of climbing up to the third floor to find out what had caused such a massive explosion.

* * *

><p>The rain masked the sight in the City where the loud explosion had echoed its way into the second and third zones where the battle led by Phoenix Fury raged on through the thunder and the lightning. He'd been doing his best to make his way back to Korse through the mass of Dracs that had joined the battle from the west. Fun Ghoul and Neon Acid had taken the reins further along in the third and fourth zone and were doing a damn good job, but the sides had evened out in strength since the Dracs had gotten reinforcements. Though, since the Killjoys had started out wounded and with a far lesser number, Phoenix Fury still thought they were in good shape, considering.<p>

The entirety of the war in the zones stood still long enough to watch the explosion within the City, illuminating the stormy skies in a fiery red for only a moment. Phoenix Fury found Korse while the sea of Dracs and Killjoys stood still and meandered his way through the people staring dumbfounded at the explosion. If he was right, it looked like someone was infiltrating Better Living Industries while the battle raged on in the zones. He never would have guessed that anything like that would happen and was damn proud of whoever was in that building. Phoenix had a feeling that he knew _exactly_ who was behind the explosion.

"That brilliant son of a bitch." Phoenix Fury grinned, realizing suddenly why Party Poison had decided to leave the camp now, even in its hour of need. While he couldn't be certain that his assumptions were correct or that Party Poison was the source of the chaos they were witnessing, he had decided to give the man more credit than he would've given him only a few days prior. Phoenix Fury continued through the group of people, shoving Dracs off of their feet and avoiding Killjoys so he didn't throw them off of his game and aiming his gun toward Korse who was paying him no mind.

"Continue the battle! Continue! Don't stop until they're dead or you've stopped breathing!" Korse seemed panicked after witnessing the explosion. The Dracs jumped back into action upon receiving their orders which didn't surprise any of the Killjoys. It was like they were programmed to obey commands, rather than make their own decisions in the heat of battle. That was where the Killjoys prevailed. Phoenix Fury aimed a few shots at Korse but missed in the chaos that had continued around them, since the Dracs jumped in his way to protect their leader from harm.

"Korse! Don't you run from me you cowardly son of a bitch!" Phoenix tried to shove past the people who had started up in arms around him once again but was losing sight of Korse quickly in the thick of the battle. Somehow Phoenix knew what Korse was planning on doing. Korse was leaving the war altogether. Strong arms grabbed Phoenix Fury and made a sad attempt to pull him to the ground and out of the way of blow from a Drac who was aiming at him with a long blade. Instinctively, feeling the arms around him, Phoenix ducked down and then rolled over to pin whoever had grabbed him to the ground. The force of the tackle hadn't done much to him at all, but he'd thought it was the best course of action.

"You idiot, it's me!" Captain Phantom had tried to _help_ him to keep him from getting cut in half since he had clearly not been focusing on the war waging around him. "Pay attention! He almost killed you!" When Phoenix Fury didn't move to get off of her, apparently dumbfounded into place, Phantom wiggled her legs from beneath him and kicked at his stomach and forced him off of her. "Get off of me asshole!" Without another word, Captain Phantom got to her feet and continued with the battle.

Phoenix Fury pushed himself back onto his knees and blocked a blow with his gun from the Drac who had initially swung at him. He was kicked in the stomach and knocked onto his back. Aiming his gun quickly he fired at the Draculoid's face, kicking his corpse off of his legs where it'd fallen. Getting back to his feet, he looked around him to try and find his target. The Killjoys had the upper hand again it seemed but Korse was nowhere to be found. He'd lost him in the thick of battle

Somehow, Phoenix Fury _knew_ that Korse had gone back to Battery City to find out what was going on and what the source of the explosion that had rattled through the zones had been. Staring once more at the fire and smoke coming from the center of the City that could barely be seen through the clouds and rain, Phoenix contemplated what was happening in there and hoped that whoever had let loose on the buildings within the City was on their side.


	38. Sacrifice

The Widow was having a tough time moving around in such a small room with her exceptionally long and creaky limbs but somehow she still seemed much faster than she had been in the sand. Tiger Beatdown and Agent Alpaca had been split up on opposite sides of the laboratory in attempts to keep her away from the body of Disco Bitch and try to make her confused and keep her from getting the best of them so easily. Both of them knew just what she was capable of after watching her above ground.

"I'll make you all my puppets!" Widow's already unearthly voice had changed to something far more demonic sounding than it had once been. While it had been that of a calm woman to begin with, albeit a monotone emotionless woman, in comparison to what it had become, the woman was sorely missed. Now her voice sounded as though six different men, all of a different vocal range were talking over each other, each struggling to be the dominant voice. It was akin to something out of a bad possession movie.

Agent Alpaca fired his ray gun toward the Widow and shouted in surprise when he realized she was swinging at him. With another yell, he ducked the vicious blow from the Widow's metallic front legs. She was stabbing at him frantically, wanting to cause him as much pain as she possibly could. Time and time again as her pointed metallic legs missed their target they crashed through the concrete and shook the room around them. Being forced to move closer to her to escape, Agent Alpaca got a better look at their attacker. Her lips were falling apart, splitting in places and she was foaming the white acidic webbing that he'd gotten on his arm earlier. It dripped down her chin, corroding her already fragile flesh. Trying his best to dodge each of the blows, Alpaca kept firing at the woman's face in hopes to at least throw off her aim if he destroyed her vision. Each blow met her flesh with the sickening sound of hammer pounding against meat. If Agent Alpaca hadn't been terrified, he likely would've been disgusted. Thankfully there was no time available to him to feel queasy.

Tripping over one of her metallic legs as it missed Agent Alpaca again and stuck in the concrete wall, tangled in the wiring to the lamps overhead, Widow screamed in frustration. Agent Alpaca, momentarily distracted since he hadn't expected Widow to get stuck, tripped and fell face forward onto the ground his ray gun sliding from his hands and just out of reach. Taking this golden opportunity to get the best of the Killjoys who were annoyingly shooting away her flesh, Widow swung her leg free from the wall and grabbed at him with her metallic arms, spraying the webbing from her mouth at him with a disgusting retching sound. Agent Alpaca held his arms protectively over his face to keep it from getting in his eyes and from damaging his skin.

"Hey, bitch!" Tiger Beatdown had meandered his way underneath the Widow while she'd been preoccupied with Alpaca and was now lying on his back directly beneath her. He aimed upward and shot through the chest of the Widow, feeling the resulting coagulated gore spraying on his face. "If we keep shooting at her body then eventually there won't be anything left to control the machine she's attached to!"

"Yeah, that's a lot easier to do when you have a _gun _to shoot with." Agent Alpaca shouted in frustration. Grabbing the knife he kept in his belt, he stabbed at the metallic arms that held him and received a painful electronic jolt in response to his attack. While he hadn't expected to get electrocuted, Agent Alpaca had still reached his goal and had managed to escape the grasp of the Widow since her metallic joint failed and released him from her grip. Stumbling to his feet, Alpaca struggled to fight the pain of the now hardening webbing that was stuck to his arms. It burned his skin and caused his muscles to ache. Each attempt to wipe it off with his gloves failed horribly. Instead of continuing his attempts to relieve his pain, he hurried over to where his gun had crashed onto the ground and snatched it up.

"Alpaca! I could use some help here!" Tiger Beatdown was struggling to escape from where he had crawled beneath the Widow, but she was blocking his every attempt, trying to punish him for what he'd done to her body. Each blow of her sharpened claws left a hole in the ground where Tiger had been laying until finally one of the blows hit him in the chest, just below his shoulder. Screaming in pain and agony Tiger Beatdown grabbed at the metallic foot and tried to pull it out of his wound in hopes of relieving this new pain.

Widow laughed hauntingly as she dug her foot purposely into the wound to worsen the tear in his flesh, clearly enjoying the pain she was inflicting on the man beneath her.

"Suffer little puppet! Suffer and bleed!"

"Tiger! No! Fuck! Let him go you freak!" Agent Alpaca ran hurriedly to his friend, dodging the legs of the lanky spider that was tormenting his friend. Blood was pooling in Tiger's throat in reaction to the wound and he spat it to the side, trying to keep his airways clear so he could properly breathe.

"Alpaca, get out while you can!" Tiger Beatdown couldn't seem to get the Widow's claw out of his chest no matter how hard he tugged. The longer he tried to pull at the wound, the weaker his body became from blood loss and the more impossible it became to free himself. While he was sure the wound was bad and had damaged his muscles, he could tell it hadn't punctured his lungs since he could still breathe fairly efficiently despite the blood that had previously pooled in his throat. It was more likely that Widow had just damaged the muscles in his shoulder and his chest since even his tendons seemed to be in working order. While it was painful for him to move his arm, he was still able to move it.

"Not a chance in hell, I'm not leaving you in here. Remember? I told you I'm not going to let you go off dying to save some woman you've known for two weeks and I'm not going to let you die saving me either, that's for damn sure! There's nothing noble about this, so stop trying to be a fucking hero!" Agent Alpaca hurried through the maze of spider's limbs and intending to stab his knife through the leg of the Widow that was still deep within his friend's flesh. "Besides, that scar will be a damn good story to tell to the Killjoys back home." Agent Alpaca wasn't used to being the optimistic one of their duo, and while it was coming naturally in the panic of the situation, it still felt alien to him.

"You're fucking stupid!" Tiger managed a laugh, but choked on his own blood after a moment and coughed to try and clear his airways. Instead of continuing to try to free himself from the Widow's grip, he aimed his gun with his left hand and fired at the body of his attacker despite being riddled with pain and it not being his dominant hand.

"God fucking damnit…" The electrical shock that met Agent Alpaca a second time when he stabbed his knife through the spider's leg was far more painful than the first and he found his blade stuck within the leg. The joint of the leg however, cracked and grew fragile. Grabbing onto the end of the limb that was stuck within his friend, Alpaca managed to break it free from the rest of the limb that had threatened to open up and spill out the web-like substance that Widow seemed to create on the device she carried around attached to her back. Howling in pain and misery, or maybe just frustration, Widow stumbled backwards and regrouped. Neither man was sure if she could feel through the artificial limbs attached to her body. Hot webbing was pouring from the torn limb like blood. Half of it was now falling apart and crumbling on the floor thanks to the fragile steam pistons that met at her joints.

Pulling the leg from Tiger's shoulder after it had been freed, Agent Alpaca made a gagging sound at the sight of the wound it had left. Yellowish tendons and reddish muscle tissue could easily be seen from the at least three inch gash. He helped Tiger to his feet and moved to the corner of the room, trying to circle it in order to get to the door and in hopes of putting some distance between them and the Widow.

"We can't leave Disco here on her own… she's still alive, Alpaca." Tiger grimaced. Agent Alpaca let his friend go, his own body sore from the wounds he'd sustained.

"I can't carry you both out of here!" Agent Alpaca felt frustrated with his friend's stubbornness. _Even now when he's bleeding badly enough to die he's not giving up on this girl. Damnit, he's an idiot!_

"I can walk out of here on my own, you grab her! No one deserves to be left behind with this bitch." Tiger was hunched forward, blood spilling from the wound in his chest, dripping slowly onto the floor. Agent Alpaca gagged again as his eyes caught the wound and his stomach turned.

"I can see your tendons man! You're not going to be okay to walk for very long. We have to get you out of here! No more fucking around with this machine to save a woman who's doomed with or without our help. No more fucking around to get revenge for Kobra Kid who is already dead and gone. We've got to go and save our lives while we have the chance!" Agent Alpaca couldn't screw around anymore, he didn't have it in him. He was too beaten up and Tiger Beatdown would surely be a goner if they didn't get back to Jet-Star quickly so they could wrap his wounds.

"Just give me a minute to wrap this shit up to stop the bleeding and then we'll grab her and get out of here as fast as we can, okay?" Tiger Beatdown pulled his jacket off and grabbed his undershirt, pulling it off of his body as quickly as he could and tearing it into strips long enough to wrap around his torso. The wound was numbing thankfully due to the shock and adrenaline from the initial blow and while he felt weak and dizzy from blood loss, he was confident he could get out of the building and into the truck at the very least. If Alpaca could just take care of the rest then they'd be fine. They wouldn't have to leave anyone behind.

"Fine! God, you're stubborn." Agent Alpaca aimed his gun at the Widow once again. He wasn't going to take any chances even though she seemed to still be struggling with the loss of her limb. He thought the idea of blowing her to pieces until there was nothing left to control the metallic body was the best thing they'd come up with since they'd gotten into this underground facility so continuing to shoot at her couldn't do any harm, in his mind.

"I will make you my puppets…" Widow repeated in her unearthly voice, deciding to regroup and fire webbing at them instead of try to repair her broken limb. With her back limbs she was now lifting up desks and tables and breaking them into pieces of debris, preparing to throw them or use them as weapons against the Killjoys.

"Hell, this isn't good…" Agent Alpaca did his best to repel the new projectiles being thrown at them from the corner and to keep Widow's eyes off of Tiger for long enough to wrap his wounds so they could quickly escape. Despite Alpaca's efforts, they were both quickly becoming trapped in a corner by the massive monster that was set to make them do her bidding.

"I'll watch as you dance from my tangled web, until you kill each other… for my amusement!" Widow was laughing despite the wounds she'd retained. At this point, Agent Alpaca wasn't sure if destroying the human part of her was going to be enough to take her down. Whatever she was, it was far beyond human. Perhaps she and the spider were one, and they'd have to kill them both to do any real damage.

"Now would be a good time to maybe… hurry up, Tiger!" Alpaca cursed under his breath and fired his gun at the hinges of the Widow's legs this time, hoping to at least distract and weaken their aggressor a little bit. Firing at her body seemed impossible now, after all the damage they'd done. What was there left to hit? She was a bloody disgusting mess and all they had succeeded in doing was making Alpaca feel queasy at the sight of her. In fact, it seemed like they'd done her a favor by making her more grotesque.

"I'm trying! This isn't exactly easy with her shooting that shit at us constantly!" Tiger was feeling light headed but he wasn't going to give up without a fight. Agent Alpaca positioned himself in front of Tiger and before he'd realized it, they were, in fact, cornered. The Widow was approaching them now slowly, holding two jagged metallic table legs in her hands to use as weapons. Alpaca could envision her pinning them to the wall with those spikes and tried to stop thinking so hard about it, since the thought disgusted him further._ I don't want to be a pin cushion!_

"Fuck, Tiger…" Agent Alpaca turned his head to look back at his friend, clear panic in his eyes. Tiger Beatdown finally finished wrapping his wound and stared up at the Widow who was approaching them, slowed by the damage that had been done to her and the debris she'd thrown about the room trying to wound them. Tiger nodded his head at his friend in recognition of their situation, and Alpaca nodded back, as if to accept the fate that had befallen them. At least they would go down together, fighting against Better Living Industries. While it was possible that no one would ever find them in this underground facility, at least they had done some kind of good in the end and their deaths wouldn't be in vain.

"I love you man." Tiger Beatdown smiled at his friend, in lieu of an official farewell.

"Gay." Agent Alpaca smiled slightly, mocking a movie he'd once seen with a similar situation. He wasn't going to become forlorn and give up just because death seemed inevitable. Both men aimed their guns at the Widow but before they could fire, their attacker sprang up on her hind legs in sudden shock and pain. She was howling and screaming and thrashing about the room, like a bull unwilling to be tamed.

Disco Bitch had woken up, perfectly lucid and had seen what was happening to her friends who had obviously come to try and save her life. Though her body was weak and sore she fought against the pain that was overwhelming her and snuck up behind the Widow. Having managed to gain enough momentum while the spider had been distracted with Alpaca and Tiger, she'd leapt onto its back and grabbed at the mechanical piece attached to the human form of the Widow that she'd noticed when she'd been seated for her torture. Still convinced that this piece was the key to the spider's power, she tugged and dug at it with her raw fingers, trying to pull it off and away from the body of the woman who was reacting so harshly to her sudden attack.

"Disco!" Agent Alpaca and Tiger Beatdown both said in awe. This was the last thing either of them had expected. They hadn't realized the woman had moved from where she'd been laying on one of the tables and neither one of them had expected her to wake up fighting for _them_, rather than in tandem with the spider woman who had been claiming to be such a brilliant puppet master since the moment they'd been introduced. Apparently she was not as brainwashed as they had previously thought.

"God, she's okay!" Tiger Beatdown felt a rush of hope flood through him and despite his wounds, despite the pain he was in, and despite how he knew her mental state was only temporary, he had a new burst of energy that he hoped would get them through this horror show they'd become involved in. "Come on! We've got to help her! Keep going Disco! We've got your back!"

"Be careful!" She shouted, her voice sounding hoarse and sore from the painful screaming she'd done while she'd been tortured through her experiments only to become the creature she was now. She knew that this lucidity, or sanity she'd found was only temporary but if she could make an impact while she was still herself in this moment then it would make all the difference in the world. Her nails started to bend backwards and break, causing pain to rush up through her arm, instinct telling her to stop tugging at the Widow.

Screaming in pain, Disco almost fell off of the back of the metallic spider as one of the legs scraped against her back in a mad attempt to pull her off and throw her to the side and stop her prying.

"You bitch, you rotten little bitch! Obey me! Listen to your master! Listen to your queen!" The Widow was furious that her puppet was betraying her and even trying to kill her. She thrashed around wildly, still trying to throw Disco Bitch to the side. Agent Alpaca grabbed one of the front legs of the spider and slid underneath the Widow's irrationally bucking form. Tiger, seeing what Alpaca was up to without needing to ask grabbed another one of the front legs and did the same, but ran the opposite direction beneath Widow's body, holding the leg as tightly as he could despite the woman controlling them trying to pull away.

The machine was forced forward harshly, grinding against the floor and destroying the concrete there with the force the spider had fallen into the ground with. Widow was howling and hissing in pain and in a mad attempt to keep herself from falling prey to the Killjoys taking her down, her limbs began to spray the acidic web that had so damaged Disco Bitch and Agent Alpaca.

Avoiding the sloppy attacks, Agent Alpaca grabbed his knife from the floor, finding it amongst the wreckage and stabbed at more of the limbs. Though the shocks were painful to experience, he figured if it was hurting him then it had to be hurting _her_ as well. Judging by the Widow's howls of pain in reaction, Agent Alpaca assumed he had been right.

Disco Bitch managed to regain herself despite her now bloodied fingers and secured her body on the back of the Widow. Grabbing at the mechanical device on her back once again, Disco tugged and pulled until her arms gave out. The machine finally broke free, pulling veins and intravenous tubes out of the Widow's back along with rotted muscle tissue and broken tendons.

"No! No! You bitch! You're mine!" Widow was howling. Her control over the spider was waning. Disco used her foot to stomp on the mechanical device, forcing it to pull free of the Woman's back entirely, revealing parts of her spine.

Disco Bitch grabbed the neck of the Widow and tugged her from her chair as the steam powered pistons came to a grinding halt and the entire machine stopped thrashing.

"I'm no one's puppet, you bitch." Disco Bitch shoved the body off of the machine and before she could say anything to the men who she'd helped save, Agent Alpaca had stepped up to the plate. Walking up to the now grotesque and pathetic looking form of the writhing corpse woman on the ground, he took his knife, flipped it around in his hands and severed the head from the body of the corpse. It rolled lifelessly to the side, only halting because of the metallic limbs that now scattered the floor and were lying in its way.

"Disco Bitch!" Tiger Beatdown dodged pieces of metallic spider body and wrapped his arms around the woman he'd fought so hard to save, this time confident she wouldn't stab him in the back. Disco returned his embrace and buried her face in his non-injured shoulder. "I thought you would never come back to me! God maybe they got it wrong… Maybe they're wrong!" Tiger looked hopeful. Behind them, Agent Alpaca grimaced.

"Not to rain on anyone's parade or anything like that, but we're all bleeding in a pretty nasty way and this place is falling apart. I'm not really into the idea of getting crushed beneath the sands of the fifth zone so maybe we should consider… oh, I don't know, leaving?" Agent Alpaca didn't know what to say to Disco Bitch. He had been so sure for so long that she was going to turn on them, he had always been since the very beginning, but he hadn't known this would be the way it would happen. Maybe it had been some kind of sixth sense he'd had, but even now he knew what was going to come. As he glanced at Disco Bitch, it seemed like she both knew and understood too.

Agent Alpaca had been _right_. He had _always_ been right, but no one had believed him. After an understanding glance with Agent Alpaca, Disco Bitch gently touched Tiger's cheeks and gave him a soft smile. She didn't have the heart to tell him that he was wrong about how there was still hope for her mind. There was nothing that could save her at this point, she was sure of it. Somewhere in her heart, she knew she would betray them again until she lost her mind completely, just as the files on the computer had said she would.

"He's right. Let's get out of here." Disco Bitch, knowing what she had to do, just hoped that someday Tiger Beatdown could forgive her for it. The trio walked, or rather _limped_, through the hallways of the underground facility, moving slower than they had when entering it. It seemed that since they no longer had a disfigured spider mutant chasing them, the walk was a lot longer.

"I'm sorry, Disco." Tiger smiled, the sting of his wound not bothering him as long as he had this woman at his side. As cliché as it sounded, he found the strength to carry on through her. Seeing her eyes actually looking back at his with recognition was the best medicine he'd ever experienced.

"What could you possibly be sorry for? You came to save me, even when you had _no_ idea of knowing I needed saving."

"I'm sorry for not being able to answer you when you'd asked me that day outside of the camp if I was only in love with you only because I was afraid I would never find love. I should've told you that's not it at all. We can be together Disco… just you and me and we can make our own future. I don't want to live a dream that you don't share with me. The only thing I see certainly about my future is that you're in it, by my side." Tiger limped along and Disco could see the damage done to his body. Her heart ached for the pain he was in, the pain that had been caused to his body because of her.

She remembered everything now that she was in control of her own mind once again; stabbing him in the back, fighting with Agent Alpaca, all the things they'd read aloud on the computer after putting her down in the laboratory. She could never forgive herself for the things she had been too weak to fight against in her mind.

"Well, if you're sorry then I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that I walked away from you that day. After… they took me, the fight we'd had seemed so damn stupid. You were right though. I was afraid of being happy and I was afraid to tell you how weak I felt around all of that alcohol in the pub when we were sitting together. It was petty of me and now it's in the past. I don't need any of it anymore, Tiger. It was stupid of me to want to fight that on my own. I'm sorry that things happened the way that they did." Disco Bitch's voice was sore. She wasn't sure how much more she could accomplish before she fell unconscious again. When she did, she knew she wouldn't wake up in charge of her own mind. There was no way to know how she'd wake up; if she'd remember who she was, or if she'd lash out at the Killjoys and make them work against each other.

Either way she couldn't risk it. This man next to her, so devotedly in love with her even after all she'd done to him, showed her exactly what she needed to do. There were other horrors in this facility, other experiments in cells far below the floors they'd explored. There were those who hadn't been destroyed by Widow and if they were let loose into the world, even if Better Living Industries had no control over them, they would cause chaos and wreak havoc upon the inhabitants of Battery City and the zones.

"I don't want you to be sorry." Tiger was determined to shoulder all of the guilt they both felt.

"Well, I don't want _you_ to be sorry either." Disco Bitch stopped underneath the gaping entrance of the facility. There was an elevator that would take them to the top and let them walk out without having to climb. It was raining now; they could see it pouring into the facility from above. The three climbed onto the platform and Agent Alpaca set it to raise them up and out of the facility once he was sure everyone was ready.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you… and for you to really be there looking back at me." Tiger Beatdown could handle these wounds, in fact he felt like he could handle anything. They'd defeated the Widow against all odds, and he'd saved Disco Bitch and though they'd still lost Kobra Kid along the way, it felt like an overall victory. While he wasn't sure how he would tell Party Poison that his brother had died, he knew that he would find a way to handle it. Life had a funny way of making things work out the way they were supposed to.

"I know." Disco Bitch turned to face Tiger Beatdown as the platform crept closer to the sands above the facility. "Tiger?"

"Yes, Disco?"

"I love you." Disco Bitch leaned up on her toes and gave him a gentle kiss. Tiger savored the taste of her lips, something he never thought he'd feel again. Then they were gone far before he was ready for them to be. Disco Bitch slipped from his weakened arms and slid to her knees. She crouched down and jumped back into the facility as the platform continued upward toward the sands. "That's why I have to do this, Tiger."

"What?" Tiger didn't seem to understand at first but then it clicked when he realized she had crawled back into the facility on purpose. "No! No! Disco! Don't!" Agent Alpaca grabbed onto Tiger Beatdown and kept him from jumping off of the platform after her.

"I hope someday you'll forgive me." Disco Bitch watched the platform as it rose above the ground and out of sight. Trusting that Agent Alpaca would keep Tiger Beatdown from entering the facility again, Disco Bitch found the panel that controlled the locks. She forced the platform to freeze in place and act as a barrier over the entranceway. Laser fire could be heard from above and she guessed that Tiger was trying to get through the platform by force. Hurrying back through the halls of the facility, Disco Bitch searched for a control room.

"Better Living Industries always builds in some kind of failsafe to their facilities. If this place were to become filled with zombies that they couldn't control they'd have built in some kind of function to destroy it. A self destruct sequence of sorts…" Speaking more to herself than anyone else, to make sure her thoughts still remained sane, Disco Bitch found the control room on the top floor.

Within she fiddled with the controls and found what she was looking for after about five minutes of searching. The building would collapse in on itself and everything would be burned and buried, no evidence remaining of the building that had once housed such atrocities beneath the sands of Zone five.

A voice echoed through the building over loudspeakers, letting anyone within know that the end was coming. Part of her knew that the experiments down below would be grateful to be set free, just as she would be. While she had a feeling that Tiger Beatdown would never be able to forgive her for what she'd done, Disco Bitch knew she'd saved him in the end.

Watching her fading away and slowly losing herself would have been far more painful than losing her all at once. Meandering through the facility, Disco Bitch found herself once again in the cell where she'd written those letters to Tiger Beatdown. Patting her chest, she realized that she'd forgotten to give them to the man she wrote them to before she'd snuck back into the facility.

Maybe someday he'd find them, maybe he wouldn't. Either way, Disco Bitch had made her peace and had done the right thing. She had never been more proud to be a Killjoy.

Sitting down on the edge of the cot, she closed her eyes. On the back of her lids she saw the smiling face of Tiger Beatdown, so happy to have found her. At least she had managed to give him a few moments of peace before the end. Tears dripped from her closed lids and down her cheeks, dripping onto her hands.

As the voice overhead counted down to the last second of her life, Disco Bitch smiled. She had feared death until the moment it came and then she welcomed it.

* * *

><p>"Let me go, Alpaca! I swear to God I will shoot you if you don't let me go after her!" Tiger Beatdown was struggling against Agent Alpaca who was still dragging his friend through the sand in an attempt to get him back to the truck they'd driven with Kobra Kid out to the facility. The body of Kobra Kid was still lying in the back and though it was cryptic and disturbing to lie next to a corpse while waiting for the fallout of whatever Disco Bitch had planned, it was still better than falling victim to falling debris from a potential explosion.<p>

After Alpaca had finally managed to get Tiger into the truck against his will, he crawled through the front of it and started the ignition. Alpaca drove until he felt the whole ground shake beneath the vehicle. Something horrible had happened in the sand below just as Alpaca had predicted. Slamming on the brakes, afraid that the truck would tip from the earthquake-like shaking going on so close to them, he turned the wheel to face the facility they'd just abandoned. As the car came to a screeching halt the sound of the explosion quieted, leaving nothing but the sound of the wind and rain from the storm raging overhead. Tiger Beatdown jumped out of the truck and ran back toward the entrance they'd abandoned, trying desperately to remove the sand that had buried the doorway. He tugged and pulled on the door of the facility, hoping to get it to budge, but even if he could have after it had been disabled, beneath it he would've only found debris. The ground beneath them was a good hundred feet lower, leaving a huge crater in the earth where the facility had once been beneath it.

What remained of the facility, and Disco Bitch was dead and buried, there was no hope of finding any remains. Tiger fell onto his knees and finally stopped his tugging on the door realizing that it was a fruitless effort. His vision was blurred by tears and the rain soaking him. His body was aching from his wounds, and his heart felt crushed which was likely the worst of all pains.

"Why would she do that? Why would she kill herself? I could've saved her, Alpaca! I could've!" Somehow, Tiger Beatdown knew that Agent Alpaca couldn't have been very far behind him.

"You couldn't have saved her and you know it! She did what was best for everyone!" Agent Alpaca knew the reasoning would likely never suit his friend, but he did his best to try and explain it to him. "She knew that she could end it all now instead of making the both of you and potentially many others suffer through what would happen to her!"

"But she could have been fine! I could've saved her, Alpaca! We had no idea of knowing if that computer was right or not! Better Living Industries has been wrong about their experiments before!"

"No, Tiger! You _wanted_ to save her. Sometimes that's not enough!" Agent Alpaca knelt in the sand in front of his friend, his own heart breaking to see how torn apart he was.

"I _needed_ to save her, it was more than a want! You don't get it! How could you? It's not like you know what it's like." Tiger Beatdown shoved at Agent Alpaca out of anger, wincing from the pain he caused himself and subsequently falling in the man's arms. Shock was wearing off and the true pain of what had happened to him was weighing him down. Still nothing compared to the pain he felt in his chest, a wound that would surely never close.

"You couldn't save her! You can't save everyone, Tiger! She needed to save _you_ this time and you know it!" Agent Alpaca wasn't trying to belittle his friend's pain, but at the same time they didn't have time for his doubts. He could hear something other than the storm on the wind and somehow he knew they needed to get back to the camp as quickly as they could manage.

"What am I supposed to do without her now?" Tiger Beatdown whispered, looking defeated.

"Come on Tiger, we don't have time for this." Agent Alpaca shouted at his friend over the wind. "You've got to snap out of it! There is a _war_ going on! Can't you hear it on the wind? People die in times of war and we have to deal with it even if we loved them! You knew coming out here that the chances of her making it out alive were slim to nothing!" His words were harsh, but Alpaca knew that Tiger needed to hear these things so they could head back and help their comrades in the desert. "Your people need you now!"

"_She_ needed me too."

"She needs you _now_. She needs you to go and save our friends and to save yourself. What would you want her to do if the tables had been turned down there?" Agent Alpaca glanced nervously toward the City in the west, seeing the lights in the distance of fires and gunshots. That had finally struck the cord that Tiger had needed to hear. Though all he wanted was to dig through the desert sands until he found what was left of Disco Bitch out of some sick hope that she was alive somewhere below them, he knew he couldn't. He'd been badly wounded and even as he sat there now in the pouring rain, he could feel how light headed he had become and the deep wound affecting his performance. His arm hung limp now, muscles too pained and sore to be used properly until whatever tissue that had been damaged was repaired.

"Come on. Let's go." Tiger tried to get to his feet but his sore and aching body didn't seem to want to support him. Agent Alpaca helped him onto his feet and they limped together back to the truck just on the edge of the crater that had been blown into the ground. Together they would head back to the eastern camp and see what they could do to help out their fellow Killjoys with whatever chaos had broken out in their absence.

* * *

><p>Vengeful Venom had been caught off guard when he'd been tackled by Obliterator in the hallway. He was no match for the man, especially in his current condition. While he hadn't taken much notice of his wounds since he'd first woken up next to the trash can after having escaped Obliterator the first time, now that he was, once again, being pummeled by the man who had seemed so composed upon their last altercation, he could feel each wound as if they were new once again. He was bleeding, profusely at that, and whatever wound he'd been lucky enough to have close while he'd rested was open and bleeding with a vengeance.<p>

All Venom could try to do was dodge and attempt to keep himself upright through the fight. Getting back to his feet after having been thrown through the glass panes of one of the first floor office windows, Vengeful Venom nearly fell right back onto his knees from the pain crippling his body. Somehow he managed to stumble to his feet after a few seconds. His thoughts were muddled. There had to be some way to get the best of Obliterator without having to put himself in harm's way constantly. He knew he stood no chance in a physical altercation so there had to be another way to defeat him.

His body was weak and aching, becoming worse and worse with every blow. Venom heard that horrible hissing sound, the sound of the blade escaping its sheath that was so familiar from his earlier torture. Throwing the rest of the cane to the side, Obliterator jumped on the window's ledge ignoring the broken glass beneath his shoes. He hunched on top of the ledge and smirked down at Vengeful Venom, knowingly.

"You haven't learned a thing since we last met have you? In fact, you've gotten sloppier."

"I snuck out right under your nose, don't you forget that Obliterator." Vengeful Venom managed to stay on his feet but swayed dangerously in place, unsure of how he'd keep this up long enough to find a way to kill Obliterator.

"You got lucky that my brother escaped just when you were on your way out. If they hadn't been causing such a scene downstairs where he'd blasted the damned roof open then there would have been no chance of you escaping at all. Luck doesn't count as skill." Obliterator jumped down from the sill, glass crunching beneath the soles of his shoes with each step. He waved the sword in front of him artfully then pointed it threateningly at Vengeful Venom.

"I locked you in a room like an idiot and crept my way out right under your nose. You left me because you underestimated me, not because you defeated me. You thought I was a helpless fool in there but you were wrong… I knew the less I fought against you the less damage you'd feel it necessary to do to me. It was the only way I stood a chance at escape." Venom ducked a sloppy swing from Obliterator's sword. Apparently he'd touched a nerve, insulting Obliterator's intelligence. "You fell for _my_ trick whether you'd like to admit or not. You think I know so little, do you? Think again."

"You are pathetic little worm. I had bested you in there, and don't you pretend that I didn't. I can see the blood dripping through your jacket… You're weaker than you act, little man." Obliterator aimed the sword at Venom again who ducked out of the way and fell to his knees. His body was as sore as Obliterator had let on but he wasn't going to give up.

"Strength means _nothing_. I already told you. I let you have your fun in that room so that I could manage my escape afterward with my life. You ate right from the palm of my hand." Vengeful Venom rolled away from another blow from Obliterator's blade. He turned on his back and smashed his foot into Obliterator's hand, knocking the blade out of its directed path. While Obliterator hadn't dropped the blade from the force of the kick, he cursed at the pain of Venom's foot meeting his hand.

Venom then built up the momentum once again with his feet and kicked at Obliterator's torso as hard as he could muster. Surprised and not able to move out of the way in time despite the unearthly speed he'd shown earlier, Obliterator was knocked back through the window frame, landing straight on a piece of glass that had been dislodged when Venom had been tossed through it like a ragdoll.

"You little brat!" Obliterator seemed puzzled that the glass had hurt him at all, or that the mild blows Venom had inflicted had caused any pain whatsoever. Maybe whatever Venom had done in the lab with their test tubes and files had actually affected them in some physical way. Obliterator didn't seem to have the speed he once possessed or the immunity. "…what did you do to me? I know you did something, you traitor!" Obliterator tried once again to possess the speed and strength he'd once had so easily but seemed to fail in doing so which only further frustrated him.

"What, something not working properly, Obliterator?" Venom smirked, feeling confident for the first time against this man. Obliterator was wounded and maybe Venom could actually get the upper hand in this battle if he kept up the pace and made Obliterator second guess himself. It would have to be done quickly, he could already feel his fingers starting to numb from the blood loss he was experiencing.

"Don't you taunt me!" Obliterator got to his feet, his body pained, but he wasn't going to let this man get the best of him so easily. He slashed quickly at the man, managing a few blows, watching the blood flow in crimson rivers from the wounds. "Take it back!" Obliterator put the tip of the sword to Vengeful Venom's throat, threatening to slash at it. Venom attempted to move backwards and away but Obliterator swung his sword, smacked him in the face with the blade then returned the tip to his neck as if to scold him. Whatever skills with fighting, intelligence and attack strategy Obliterator had possessed still remained, even though his unearthly strength and speed had faded. "I said to take it back!" His voice sounded like a hiss of frustration.

"Take _what_ back? I merely asked you a question." Vengeful Venom definitely felt uncomfortable with the sharp end of a blade against his throat, but he also saw weakness for the first time in the super human being he was up against. Grabbing onto the dull end of the blade, Venom very suddenly twisted it and forced it from his opponent's hand. Obliterator scrambled to get the blade back but found it slipping from his fingers. Vengeful Venom flipped the blade around and grabbed the hilt, aiming it now at its owner. "You were saying?"

* * *

><p>The building smelled like a mixture of smoke and soggy, filthy socks. The power had gone out completely within and finally, Party Poison was finding some use for the book light that he'd stolen from Kobra Kid. It lit up just enough for them to see what they were walking into, but not so much that people would know they were coming from all the way down the hall. Party Poison didn't waste any time running through the front hallways of the building. He wasn't going to risk another second hanging back and being careful in case Fire Frenzy was somewhere in the building already going through with her insane plan. <em>I can't let her throw her life away. We can have the best of both our plans. She can still destroy the Better Living Industry computers but I can help get her out of here alive instead of leaving her to rot!<em>

"Someone's down there at the end of the hall." Rainbow Riot hurried down the hallway, whispering to Party Poison now that she could hear some kind of fight going on in front of them. While she couldn't see what was going on, she could hear the frustrated sounds of two peoplebickering and trying to attack each other. There was a metallic clang added to the mix, sounding almost like a sword.

"The explosion was on the third floor but it looks like someone's laid waste to this floor too." Poison remembered the flames that came bursting out of the third floor windows. He'd taken note of it so he would know exactly where to go when the time came for him to go after Frenzy inside of the building. Their time was limited now that the building was groaning and falling apart so severely. Not to mention, Poison could have sworn he'd seen a brick of C4 on one of the walls in the front waiting room of the building. He was sure that Fire Frenzy's plan was to blow the place to hell after she'd accomplished whatever it was she was going to do in this building. Poison could only hope he found her before she set the bombs off.

Stopping halfway through the hallway, Party Poison realized exactly what they'd run into. Vengeful Venom was fighting against one of the members of the IOD project. After what the woman had done to his head out in the second zone, Party Poison was afraid to approach any of the members of the project but he wasn't going to back down out of fear. He was however, going to keep his hand on the holster of his gun so that in case he had to do some quick firing, he would be able to.

"Venom!" Rainbow Riot caught up to Party Poison and the sight of the man she loved, holding a sharpened blade aimed toward the man in the bowler hat, nearly took her breath away. She hadn't honestly expected to find Vengeful Venom over the course of their journey. She had only intended to find Fire Frenzy and to keep her from getting in over her head. But here Venom was, fighting against one of the three creatures from that project that Poison had been telling her about. She wasn't positive that had been where this guy in the bowler hat had come from but from the way Party Poison was eyeing him she had an inkling that he was.

"Riot… this place is going to collapse any second now." Party Poison grabbed the taller woman by her arm and tugged her close to look at her seriously, muttering the words beneath her breath. "He wouldn't want you to do anything stupid. This guy he's fighting against is tougher than he looks, I can tell."

"You're giving _me_ advice on taking stupid risks? Really?" Rainbow Riot half smiled at the leader of the Killjoys. "Go after Frenzy." Poison wasn't sure he could leave Riot there, pregnant and in danger with one of the three IOD projects nearby without taking a serious blow to his conscience. "She needs you more than I do right now. Take care of her, okay? I'm where I need to be, I know it." Party Poison hesitated in response to the woman but then nodded his head. Riot was right, they had no time to waste. Poison watched the battle between Obliterator and Vengeful Venom continue on for a moment before he headed up the stairs to the second floor.

"Venom!" Rainbow Riot aimed her gun for Obliterator but he managed to dodge the blow, thought not at the speed that the woman in the second zone had managed to do so at. Vengeful Venom stared dumbfounded at the woman he'd left behind in the camp days ago.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Venom was filled with panic instantly. What if Obliterator went after her instead of him? He knew she wasn't the best of fighters particularly with close combat. That's why she was a strategist and not a gunman. He couldn't take the risk that she'd get hurt when he knew exactly what Obliterator was capable of. Not to mention the building was unstable and could fall at any moment. Venom didn't feel comfortable being inside it on his own, nonetheless did he feel comfortable with the woman he loved being within something so fragile.

"We came looking for Fire Frenzy! We thought Better Living Industries had taken you, Venom! What were you thinking coming into the City by yourself? This fight is bigger than us!" Rainbow Riot did as Party Poison had instructed her to do when firing a shot at this new villain. She aimed to the left of the target, then to the right, then directly at him. He looked surprised by her tactics and she nearly shot Obliterator in the face, but he ducked out of the way and leaned on the ground, crouching forward. Hurrying toward Vengeful Venom, Obliterator attempted to take his blade back, grabbing the blade itself, not afraid to cut his hand.

"Damnit! I don't have time to argue with you about that right now!" Venom twisted the blade, risking slicing up Obliterator's hand. Cringing but not crying out in pain, Obliterator was forced to let go of the blade, his hand dripping with blood. Vengeful Venom kicked at Obliterator and knocked him to his backside, his bowler hat rolling several feet away from him. "You need to get out of here, stop worrying about me so much!"

"I can't! Venom, you have to come out of this alive! You need to come back to me!" Rainbow Riot knew it probably wasn't the best timing to reveal her secret to her lover but in the same breath she had no idea if either one of them would survive this fight. Hopefully, hearing this news would give him one more reason to fight. "I'm pregnant, Venom! I need you to be here with me! No more of these stupid grudges and guilt ridden mind games you play! This thing is more important than us!"

"I know!" Vengeful Venom watched Obliterator on the floor, starting to make his way over to Rainbow Riot, so he could better protect her. He wasn't going to risk Obliterator getting his hands on her. The man was apparently stunned that he'd been knocked back twice in one go. Obliterator couldn't even fathom that this man he'd accused of being so pathetically puny was getting the best of him and so damn easily at that. Not anymore. Walking casually over to where his bowler hat had fallen, Obliterator slicked back his hair with his bloodied hand and flipped his hat onto his head. Leaning over, he picked up the fallen end of his cane, flipping it around in his hands just as skillfully as he had done with the sword. He was going to get back his sword one way or another.

"What do you _mean_ you know?" Rainbow Riot was shocked, but held her gun aimed at Obliterator while she looked at Vengeful Venom in awe.

"I know that you're pregnant. I've always known!" Venom lowered his voice as he got closer to the woman he was talking to. Hopefully, Obliterator wouldn't be able to overhear their conversation so easily now that they were closer. He didn't want Rainbow Riot to become a target. "Look, this child is why I'm doing this! You need to be safe, you need to keep this baby safe! This baby? It could be the cure that we've been looking for. It could be what sets us all free."

"What?" Rainbow Riot wasn't sure what Vengeful Venom meant, but didn't have the chance to ask further.

"So, the bitch is pregnant is she?" Obliterator couldn't help but smirk as he walked toward the two of them. Swinging the hollowed cane shaped sheath in his hand, Obliterator started toward Rainbow Riot and when Venom stepped in his way to protect the woman, Obliterator smashed the hollowed out cane into the side of his head. Venom flew to the side, dropping the sword. He hurried to his knees, but his body was still ravaged by the wounds he'd suffered from the earlier fight with Obliterator.

Riot backed up and aimed her gun at Obliterator, shooting at him point blank in the chest. He stumbled backwards but continued to walk after he'd regained his footing. The blow of the laser gun hadn't seemed to do all that much damage, at least not as much as Rainbow Riot had hoped for.

"Venom!" Riot wasn't sure what else to do; hand to hand combat was something she had no experience with in the slightest.

"That's right, cry for your little boyfriend! He won't live long enough to save you from me." Obliterator swung the cane at Riot and she put up her arms in hopes of absorbing the blow to keep the life within her safe but no blow ever came.

"Hands off, asshole!" Venom jumped up from the ground and swung the blade at the sheath of the cane. The hardened metallic covering didn't break but fell out of the way, knocking Obliterator off of his balance. Flipping the handle of the blade in his hand, Vengeful Venom stabbed it through Obliterator's chest, making a grunting sound at the force it took to stab the blade through so many layers of bone and muscle. Obliterator looked at Venom in awe but didn't back down. Grabbing the blade itself he pushed it further into his own body and smirked dangerously at Vengeful Venom.

"Oh my god…" Rainbow Riot had heard rumors about Korse being impervious to flesh wounds but had never seen it firsthand. It was odd to think that even though this man had been obviously stabbed directly in the chest, probably punctured a lung and was losing blood rapidly from the entrance and exit wound, he was still standing and taunting the two of them. The blade slipped from Vengeful Venom's hands and he backed up in front of Rainbow Riot.

"Stay behind me." Venom instructed. Rainbow Riot nodded her head, but then reached for the second holster on her hip. Pulling out her second ray gun she handed it to Venom.

"Use this. He's dangerous." Rainbow Riot didn't have to tell Vengeful Venom that, but she felt it needed to be said. "What is he?"

"He's one of the orphans I saw being experimented on years ago. I could've killed them then and set them free but I didn't because I was afraid of being caught… now here we are… years later and they're threatening to kill us all." Venom whispered, taking the gun and offering Rainbow Riot a quick kiss on the lips. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Holding her gun near Venom's side, Rainbow Riot kept her aim on the creature in front of them. Obliterator's mouth twitched into a snarl. The pain was excruciating, but he wouldn't give up that easily. He pulled the sword by the handle from his chest, the blood pouring from the wound and dripping from the blade along with other chunks of gore.

"No more of my blood will be shed. It's your turn." Obliterator swung the blade through the air, the blood from it splattering onto Venom's face. Rainbow Riot hid behind Venom to avoid the spray. Her hands brushed against his sides and she noticed the blood dripping through his vest.

"You're bleeding!" Riot exclaimed. She had seen that he looked rather worse for wear when they'd first approached but she hadn't expected him to be as badly beaten as she was now realizing. How long had he been bleeding? How extensive were his wounds? These were questions she wouldn't get the chance to ask.

"I know. There's no time to deal with it right now, Riot." Venom aimed the gun given to him by his girlfriend with his left hand and aimed, firing off shot after shot at Obliterator. If he got lucky, he'd at least weaken Obliterator enough by the time that he got closer to them with the sword they'd be equals in strength.


	39. The End of the World

"You let your friend go on without you? That was awfully _noble_ of you if not stupid." Instigator was searching around the room for Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow after the explosion. Moving pieces of cubicle walls out of her way with just a thought in her mind she walked slowly and methodically, feet barely touching the ground as she did, almost as though she didn't need to walk but preferred to make menacing footsteps.

The explosion overhead had done nothing for her nerves and while she had been curious about what damage her brother had sustained, she was also aware he could take on the bitch they'd sent after him. She knew exactly what was going on up above and wasn't concerned with the end result. He could handle himself better against any of these pathetic Killjoys probably better than she or Obliterator could. It didn't seem like things were going so well on the floor below for Obliterator but she had never been very fond of him anyway so his loss didn't mean as much to her.

"Don't listen to her… Ignore everything she says." Death-iNation was trying to keep Marilyn Deathrow hidden for as long as he could. He wasn't sure how they would manage to kill this experimental creature that was hunting them like animals, but he was hoping they could at least manage escape if they distracted her long enough to buy some time for Fire Frenzy to destroy the computers up above if she hadn't already done so.

"We can't let Frenzy stay up there all alone. What if she got hurt in that explosion and needs us?" Marilyn had been _trying_ to ignore the constant taunting that Instigator had been doing but she wasn't having as easy a time keeping it out of her mind as Death-iNation seemed to. It was like there was someone whispering in her ear, taunting her for how responsible for Fire Frenzy's death she'd be when it came. No matter how she tried to ignore it, the voice slithered in her ear and filled her with guilt and fear of what would happen without them there. The voice in her mind urged her to run into the hallway and to the stairwell, but even though the voice had rattled her, Marilyn Deathrow wasn't about to go running into Instigator's arms.

"What's this about a little girl now, too? Oh, you mean that little brat who burned my brother at the theater in an attempt to save that woman?" Instigator could see exactly what was going on in the woman's mind. Somehow the man had managed to close his mind to her prying thoughts, but the woman was weaker and more fragile. If she kept bending her thoughts enough she'd be able to find where the two were hiding and corner them. With any luck she could strangle the life out of them before flinging them through the glass windows and watching their bodies splatter to pieces on the concrete below. It sounded like the most beautiful end to their pathetic lives.

"Don't you talk about her…" Marilyn mumbled the rest of her thought against Death-iNation's open palm that had covered her mouth, widening her eyes at him in frustration. She most certainly had never expected him to _physically_ shut her up before.

"You're letting her get the best of you! You need to ignore her. Don't let her get into you her head! She wants you to be upset!" Nation hissed in warning. Holding his gun out, he crept back toward the hall between the cubicles, hoping to sneak back toward the explosion in hopes of finding a way to climb to the floor below and put some distance between them and this woman who he had no hope of fighting against. Marilyn didn't seem right to him at the moment, he was worried about the affect this battle was having on her. If he could get her out of the building he could return for Fire Frenzy after he was sure she was safe. He had more faith in the woman they'd sent off on her own than Marilyn did it seemed. That fact alone seemed to puzzle him. Marilyn had been ready to follow Frenzy into the unknown before they'd separated, so where had this sudden doubt in their plan come from?

"But what if she's right? I can't stop thinking about it…" Marilyn was near tears. Her thoughts were betraying her. Pressing both hands to her ears, she neglected her gun completely and tried to get the bad thoughts to stop.

"You left her. You sent her upstairs to my brother." Instigator continued, eyes focusing on the corners of the room. She glanced at the windows hoping to see a reflection of where the two were hiding in the darkness of the room.

"Don't listen to her Marilyn." Death-iNation pulled the woman into his arms and tried to continue guiding her toward the corner of the room that was smoldering from the earlier explosion. "She's trying to upset you."

"I know she is, but I can't just…" Marilyn pouted out her bottom lip in objection and tried to finally push the voice out of her head, though it persisted despite her effort. Pain followed her attempts and Marilyn hunched forward and grabbed onto each side of her head in an attempt to stop the pain. The position was making it harder for Nation to pull her along but he wasn't going to give up that easily.

"It's going to be okay, Marilyn. She wants you to listen to her, you have to repeat to yourself that there's nothing for her to see in there! She won't be able to find us if you can close your mind to her."

"My brother has a taste for her blood already, you know. Or didn't you? He's a little… well, the kind word for it is: unstable." Instigator chuckled almost as if she were having some kind of casual conversation with Nation and Marilyn. All the while, though, she was concentrating on the pain she was causing inside of Marilyn's mind, trying to read what their plans were though it seemed Marilyn wasn't sure what the man guiding her along was up to.

While she found their ultimate goal decently interesting she didn't find it interesting enough to go upstairs and follow the woman who had gone to hack the computers for Better Living Industries main files. Those didn't concern her very much. She'd heard one too many times by Korse and the others that they were flawed creatures. For all she cared, Better Living Industries could lose everything. It wouldn't change what they were and it wouldn't change their purpose. They lived for themselves now, and they'd made that clear to Better Living Industries during the last few "trial runs" of their project.

"Get out, get out of my head!" Marilyn tried to keep quiet, for the sake of Death-iNation but needed to vocalize her pain. She knew what was happening to her now. Instigator was manipulating her thoughts, trying to get her to cry out and reveal their position in the darkness of the room. She couldn't find them as of yet and she wouldn't be able to very easily if Marilyn could just keep her cool and keep quiet, which was far easier said than done when she felt like someone's fingers were gripping at her brain, pinching at every tender nerve in her skull. The pain and pressure was agonizing and soon all she could do was sit and sob in pain.

Her sobs weren't silent, but she tried to muffle them by biting her bottom lip. Nation tried to keep her quiet by hiding her face against his shoulder as they moved together through the room in secret. While he was concerned for the pain the woman he loved was in, he'd caught onto what Instigator had been planning and knew he didn't have time to console her and let her know that once they got away, the pain would abandon her.

"He'll rip your friend apart when he's finished torturing her and then he'll eat her piece by piece… slowly and very painfully. I've seen him do it numerous times before to the smaller children. It's rather entertaining actually; perhaps he'll let me watch. You sent her to her death by letting her go… She's already injured from when she pathetically tried to save all those children earlier. You don't think she'll be able to survive him again do you? Not when I'm not there to keep him in check. You saw what happened to her at the theater, Death-iNation, aren't you the least bit concerned for your _friend_? Or at least the woman you're calling your friend." Instigator laughed, finally pinpointing the two of them, realizing what Nation's plan was as Marilyn realized it.

Pulling her prying thoughts from concentrating on causing Marilyn Deathrow's agony, Instigator closed her eyes and concentrated on the metal hanging from the ceiling from the hole created by the explosion. Various pipes and pieces of framework were hanging in a jagged manner from above.

Holding up both of her hands, an overwhelming gust of wind suddenly gushed through the room, knocking down cubicle walls, throwing them haphazardly aside and blowing the metallic debris in the direction that she now knew was where Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow had been hiding in. Their attempts to escape through the hole the explosion from the third floor had created to the first floor below would be easily thwarted. They would stand no chance of escape now that Instigator had found them.

"This time you won't be there to save her from him. I'll be more than happy to help my brother in his conquest once I'm finished with you, which won't be very long from now. You know, he broke free of the facility earlier when we were recovering from the trauma she created in our home in the theater. He got away simply to try and hunt her down. He claimed she was driving him mad. Imagine that. Naturally, I had to find him… You… and your friends… all helping out this girl who wants to carry out this mad plan and what is it worth to you, exactly? You're not even her real _friends_. You're just helping her because you feel some sick sense of guilt… The poor girl clearly is out of her mind and couldn't get this far on her own. Why else would you help her? You hoped to prevent her death, so you could sleep another night without having some mental girl's death on your conscience!"

Instigator didn't bother opening her eyes as she accused them, she didn't need to. She could see them clearly with her eyes closed and continued to create chaos with the debris available to her in the room. She wanted more to frighten them than to wound them at the moment. These Killjoys would fall on their knees and break down like helpless little children by the time Instigator was done with them. They couldn't _help_ but listen to her; that was her gift.

Death-iNation grabbed Marilyn Deathrow, who had managed to shake the pain in her head, by the arm and started running frantically through the room to try and dodge the metallic debris flying at them. But only a moment into their attempted escape the both of them were thrust to the ground by the wall of a cubicle having been thrown back by the unnatural gust. Instead of continuing to run away from the debris, Death-iNation grabbed the wall that had knocked them off of their feet. While it had left them both bruised and scraped up it was the perfect shield to potentially protect them from the remainder of the debris flying toward them through the air.

"Are you okay Marilyn?" Death-iNation asked, out of breath from the various acrobatics they had done while trying to escape the debris.

"I've had enough of this over-talkative bitch, she's insane!" Marilyn Deathrow pulled out her gun, feeling thoroughly annoyed that this woman had caused her to doubt their intentions so severely and had invaded her personal thoughts so easily. "I'm done hiding from her!" Having felt violated when Instigator had entered her mind and prodded between her thoughts, Marilyn wanted some payback. It had been the final straw when she'd started throwing accusations about their intentions and relationship with Fire Frenzy.

"Marilyn don't! She's stronger than you think she is!" Death-iNation reached to grab Marilyn's hand to pull her back before she could leave the shelter of the cubicle wall but she was out of his reach before he'd done so. "Damnit!" Throwing the wall off of him, Death-iNation scrambled to his feet. It was worth being out in the open and exposed to their attacker to save Marilyn Deathrow.

"You stand there or float there… or whatever it is you do, and taunt us with things that are only half true while you hide from us! You throw shit at us with whatever stupid voodoo powers you have and hope that it'll hit us without even trying to aim! Fight us if you're going to come after us at all! Actually _fight_ us unless you're as much of a coward as I think you are! You're all talk! You know what makes us better than you?" Marilyn Deathrow dodged the debris that was starting to die down as she approached Instigator who was still standing in the middle of the room, but far closer to them than she had been before they'd hidden behind the cubicle wall.

Marilyn aimed her gun at the woman's head and fired several shots at Instigator. The woman floating in the center of the room attempted to move out of the way but wasn't fast enough. She seemed shocked that anything had hurt her, and that she hadn't managed to move out of the way in time.

Howling in anguish as a shot blew through her shoulder, a bloody spray splattering on the ground behind her Instigator temporarily lost control of the wind she'd kicked up. The debris suddenly stopped flying around the room and dropped down to the ground all at once with a loud crash. Some of it had actually punctured through the floor that had been softened and damaged from the water that had been released from the sprinklers when Death-iNation had purposely set them off earlier.

"How the hell did you do that? How did you hit me?" Instigator howled in pain, holding the wound on her shoulder. She had never felt a pain such as this, not since she had been a little girl and on the operating tables in the laboratory. Her head was throbbing and aching from being interrupted from her concentration on the wind she'd had filling the room. Now her surroundings were spinning, making her nauseous. She should've been able to dodge that blow easily. It hadn't even been a good shot! There was no way that she'd suddenly lost her strength and her speed that she had become so reliant on. Something must have gone wrong! Someone must have tampered with their room on the floor below and the tubes they called their homes. Maybe they were even damaged in that explosion from above. _How will we heal after this? Where will we go? It's all we have. If someone destroyed it…_

Instigator couldn't concentrate on the pain and the potential chaos that would occur after they'd finished the battle if they didn't have the tubes and medicine that provided them with the healing they required after injury. The idea of having to go through the process of creating a new shelter to heal in sounded horrifying, considering the flashes of pain she remembered from their first shelter, created so many years ago in her youth.

"So you do bleed, you bitch!" Marilyn Deathrow felt rather successful now that she'd actually managed to do some damage to the woman who had spent the last half an hour taunting them and hunting them like they were weak prey in the desert. Revenge was sweet. Aiming her gun again at Instigator, Marilyn fired and this time Instigator managed to run and dodge the blow, realizing her new limits very quickly.

Hiding had never been something she was good at. Instigator had never actually _had_ to hide from anything before. She'd always been able to dodge every attack that had come at her in the past and overwhelm every opponent who had threatened her. This running away thing was unfamiliar to her. She could hear the singing of the laser blast from the ray gun close behind her, whistling by her ear. Each blow was becoming far too close for comfort.

"I have to concentrate… I _need_ to focus…" Instigator wasn't going to go down without a fight, not when she'd gotten the better of these two up until that moment. She wasn't going to let some blond bitch and her plain looking boyfriend defeat her. The room trembled again as Instigator pushed the negative thoughts out of her mind and attempted to pool her energy once again so she could move the objects around her with her mind. It wasn't as easy as it had been before she had been shot.

Before it had been a breeze, it had even been a little fun to cause up such a stir without moving a single muscle. But now the pain in her shoulder was distracting her thoughts and messing up her concentrating, so Instigator attempted to lift a little less than she had the last time. Moving a smaller amount should have been less of a burden on her psyche and would require less concentration.

Her head was aching though regardless of how she tried to ignore. It was throbbing as she concentrated, as the debris rose into the air a second time. This time she was able to use the debris as a shield to block Marilyn Deathrow's shots at her rather than use it as an offensive tool to maim the Killjoys.

Party Poison hurried up the stairs after leaving Vengeful Venom and Rainbow Riot to deal with the guy in the bowler hat against his better judgment and threw the door at the top of the stairwell open. He stopped short when he came upon the chaos the remained of the offices on the second floor after the cubicles had been thrown about every which way during the fight with Marilyn Deathrow and Death-iNation.

"Nation? Marilyn?" Poison looked surprised to see the two of them together and also to see them in the building at all. He'd half expected Death-iNation to be there, but he'd hoped to never see Marilyn Deathrow again. Looking past them both, he saw the woman who had hurt him so badly in the desert after she'd half destroyed his car. "God damnit, not you again!" Instigator didn't seem phased by his arrival, and merely smiled in greeting. Poison hated these overly cocky villains, they pissed him off.

"Oh wonderful, if it isn't the time waster from the desert! What a _pleasant _surprise. Why am I not shocked that you are all friends? Well come join the party, mister Poison… the more the merrier." Instigator's voice showed her distaste for him even if she still had a pleasant and almost gentle smile across her face.

"Poison, what are you doing here?" Marilyn looked surprised to see him and while she momentarily contemplated asking him to pay what he owed her, she thought it was best to let that go while some psychopath was trying to kill them. Before Party Poison had a chance to respond to her query, Marilyn realized what he must have been doing there in Central Command. "Oh you came after her! I knew it!" Marilyn was practically squealing with excitement to think that Party Poison had actually _manned up_ for someone.

Party Poison couldn't hear any of the squealing that followed from Marilyn Deathrow over the sudden groaning and lurching of the building. The sound seemed to be coming from behind him. He grabbed onto the frame in the doorway so he could remain upright and searched around the helter-skelter room for the next stairwell, or for a way that he could possibly help Nation and Marilyn fight against this woman. He didn't see Fire Frenzy on this floor, and that worried him further.

Instigator noticed how distracted the three of them were and took this opportunity to get her vengeance rather than to get annoyed that she was being ignored. Aiming all of her debris at Marilyn Deathrow she flung the jagged metallic projectiles at the woman. Party Poison aimed his gun at the woman so aggressively attacking Marilyn, but his shots were deflected by the debris in his way. Death-iNation grabbed Marilyn by her arm once again and threw her to the ground, lying on top of her so that any wounds caused by stray debris would be inflicted upon him rather than on her. Luckily the debris missed him by a few inches and caused him no damage. Getting up, he pulled Marilyn to her feet and the two of them ran to the opposite end of the hallway and out of the smaller range, Instigator seemed to have now that she was wounded.

Instigator screeched in frustration when she realized her attack had failed and stepped into the hall. Grabbing the leg of a table, Instigator swung it against the nearest cubicle wall, sending it flying across the room and through the window out onto the ground below, to make sure that it was a sturdy enough weapon for her to use against those around her. She continued to concentrate on the metallic objects she'd retrieved from the frame of the building that continued to fall apart around them. The objects swung wildly around her, in both an attempt to harm the Killjoys in the room and to deflect any attempts they made at her with their laser guns.

Instigator didn't feel at all threatened by the newcomer behind her, who had entered the fight only moments ago. She had no interest in him just as she had none when they'd encountered each other in the desert earlier. Something about him seemed rather uninteresting to her. Maybe it was because she couldn't find anything to manipulate him with. No, she found Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow far more interesting.

"Marilyn, go and talk to Party Poison! Tell him where Fire Frenzy is now and what she's planning on doing, if she hasn't finished already. Tell him that we can handle this bitch on our own, but you've got to send him to back her up! Instigator could've been right about a few of the things she said. These monsters… I don't think she can handle even one of them on her own, not after how they maimed her last time." Death-iNation warned.

"But what about this… thing?" Marilyn gestured wildly at Instigator who was bearing down upon them. "I can't leave you to handle her alone, she's… well look at her! She's ridiculous with these things flying all around her!"

"I've got her handled for now, just go! Please!" Death-iNation pushed Marilyn away from him, regardless of her objections. Marilyn stumbled forward but then jumped back to catch her footing but failed, falling onto her behind as Instigator swung at her and started launching projectiles at her.

"Hey, stupid!" Death-iNation picked up a stapler from one of the cubicles, it being the first object that caught his eye when he looked for something to distract her with. When Instigator turned to look at him in annoyance due to his name calling, she was met with a stapler to the forehead.

"Ouch!" Instigator shouted and held her forehead with one hand. Once again the objects floating around her fell to the ground, useless. Her head was swimming and aching, wild thoughts and fears started filling her mind. All of the bad thoughts she'd tried to project into the woman's head earlier were backfiring and echoing through her ears. "No, no, no!" She couldn't control her thoughts anymore, things were starting to blur in front of her. Her heart sped up and on overdrive so she hurried toward Death-iNation wildly. In her mind, she thought the only way she could regain the sanity she'd started to lose was by killing the man that had caused her such pain.

Marilyn Deathrow was torn between helping Death-iNation and doing what she had been asked to do for Party Poison who was actually running toward them, laser gun aimed at the back of Instigator's head. She had somehow managed to keep deflecting his shots and he was getting frustrated that he wasn't doing any damage despite how good he _knew_ his aim was.

"Poison!" Marilyn got to her feet and ran toward him, realizing that Death-iNation was doing a good job protecting himself against the now intensely angered woman, when he managed to grab the projectile she'd been holding as it was swung at him. His wrist buckled under the force of the blow but he managed to stop it and punch Instigator in the gut, then slam his elbow down on the back of her head. The woman still didn't fall to the ground and instead rushed at him, forcing all of her body weight on him to knock him off of his feet, but knocking herself down in the process.

Marilyn finally reached Poison and grabbed the arm that was holding his gun aimed at Instigator.

"What the hell are you two doing here? You're going to get killed!" Party Poison looked worried, but distracted. He kept trying to watch the fight between Death-iNation and Instigator rather than pay attention to Marilyn, who he honestly didn't want to talk to. The last time they'd met she'd accused him of not paying for the services she'd performed. He honestly didn't have the energy to get into it right now and hoped she wouldn't want to either, giving how dire things were. _What the hell is she doing here with Nation anyway? He's going to have some serious explaining to do. She's ten years younger than him at the least!_

"We're helping Fire Frenzy! What are _you_ doing here when there's a war going on out in the zones?" Marilyn scolded. She had a lot to say to Party Poison, but now was not the time or place to do so. Once they got out of the building and there wasn't some crazy woman trying to murder them all, she'd make sure she had some words with him.

"I'm here to find Fire Frenzy and keep her from killing herself! It's not noble, it's not smart, it's just fucking selfish and stupid so… Where the hell is she? You're helping her? She's _letting_ you help her?" Poison was only slightly irked to find out that they'd been allowed to help Fire Frenzy. He'd had to pull her arm to get her to let him help her with even simple things. _Why would she give me such a hard time but let Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow come knocking on death's door with her? Sure, I tried to get her skirt off about forty times but, that should give her more of a reason to let me help her. I clearly care!_

"She's upstairs, Poison! One of these fuckers is after her… or at least that's what this lady says. I have no idea what's real and what's not anymore because of her. I don't know what he's called or what they are but they're scary and if it's what hurt her when Nation first found her then she's in serious trouble! She was already doing poorly to begin with!"

"Wait, what? She's _hurt_? Nation found her? Where? What the hell happened after she left? I saw the blood in the apartment…"

"You went to the apartment? _That's_ how you found us!" Marilyn seemed excited now that she was connecting the dots, though Party Poison was still completely lost. He'd missed a huge chunk of this story somewhere along the line and wished someone would fill him in. Unfortunately he didn't think they had the time to make a pot of coffee and catch up, so he'd worry about what happened earlier.

"Yeah, I saw the plans for Central Command and Frenzy's bloodied jacket. I was worried she died… but I realized she was going through with her crazy fucking plan to try and blow Better Living to high heaven."

"It's not _crazy_! She's brilliant, just a little quirky! You _would_ call her crazy, wouldn't you?"

"Me and pretty much everyone else besides you."

"And Nation!" Marilyn scoffed and then nodded toward the stairwell on the other end of the room. "Death-iNation built a virus for her to put into the computer systems. It's going to destroy their files and then we're blowing this place to hell!" Marilyn smirked, seemingly proud of the fact that she had realized how brilliant Fire Frenzy's plan had ended up being before Party Poison had realized it.

"She has a fucking death wish, you know that right? She hunts down orphans and buries them when they're already dead! She's out of her skull! She came in here to die, to put herself out of her misery, and you think that's brilliant? This is her grave, not her salvation." Party Poison spat in annoyance.

"You don't know her as well as you think you do." Marilyn Deathrow whispered under her breath. "Go upstairs, she needs your help and Death-iNation needs mine. We'll meet you outside in the alleyway before Frenzy blows this place."

"Oh and you left her in charge of the explosives. Smart." Sighing heavily, Poison glanced at the stairwell on the other side of the room. Cracking his knuckles, he mentally braced himself for what would come next. "Aim for this bitch's head okay? She's got some kind of… problem up there."

"Right, I couldn't figure that out. I _know_ she's mental. You don't give _me_ enough credit either, Poison."

"No, I mean that I met her earlier in the night out in the desert. She got into my fucking head and made me throw up and shit. If you are going to hit her aim for her head. That's how I got her away from me and to back the hell off. You've _got_ to aim for her head. Like a fucking zombie. I'd try that with the others too. Honestly you can never go wrong with a headshot." Party Poison cocked his gun and then started away from Marilyn Deathrow.

"Good luck!" Marilyn called to him with a wave then turned her attention back to Death-iNation.

"How did you know I was coming for her?" Party Poison turned back to look at Marilyn instead of continuing onward toward the stairwell. "That's the first thing you said when you saw me… that I must have come for her." Marilyn stopped and smiled.

"I just had a feeling." Marilyn didn't want to betray Fire Frenzy's confidence. Now she really _did_ feel like a therapist, but she felt like telling Poison what Frenzy had admitted to her would be betraying Frenzy in a big way and she already guessed the woman had trust issues. Party Poison stared at her skeptically but decided it wasn't worth his effort to try and get it out of her. Instead he ran through the halls, snuck past Instigator who still had no interest in him now that she was mercilessly going after Death-iNation and ran up the stairs, hoping to find Frenzy still alive on the floor above.

Death-iNation had been dragged to the ground multiple times by Instigator who had decided that tackling him was in her best interest. She grabbed onto his legs and started to pull him away from the gaping hole in the ground caused by the earlier explosion. There was a fire spreading from the above floor and the smoke was making it hard for Nation to breathe. Coughing, he grasped for anything within his reach to use as a weapon and managed to grab a desk lamp which he swung hard at Instigator who looked strained from her efforts of continually dragging him.

Instigator dropped Nation's legs, grabbed the lamp from Nation's bloodied fingers and swung it down hard at his head. Nearly blacking out from the blow, Death-iNation struggled to pull himself away before she hit him a second time. He grabbed his gun from his holster on his hip and aimed it up at Instigator. It flew out of his hand beyond his control before he could fire the shot and instead she turned it around on him and fired three shots to his chest.

Death-iNation didn't feel the pain from the shots that hit his chest but he could see the spray of blood and feel the sudden pressure holding him down. Trying to get up was a process altogether and he couldn't manage it. His body wouldn't give him the strength to move and it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. Instigator threw his gun far from his reach and stomped her foot hard on his chest, to add to the wound she'd already inflicted.

"Nation! Nation, no!" Marilyn Deathrow had been on her way over to where Death-iNation was laying on the ground when the shots had been fired. Hardly believing that the man who had taken such good care of her was laying in a puddle of blood, she moved faster. She took out her gun and aimed to shoot at Instigator's head but the gun flew from her hand just as it had from Nation's and flew out the window with a crash.

Death-iNation coughed and tried to inhale to get the oxygen he needed but through the blood filling his lung he couldn't inhale properly. Closing his eyes, he gave into the darkness around him before he could even say his goodbyes. Marilyn ran to Death-iNation's side as Instigator kicked him in the ribs. Nation merely shifted lifelessly on the ground in response. Tears blurred her eyes and as she reached his body, she knew that he must have already been dead. She didn't get to say goodbye. She didn't get to tell him she loved him again! After talking to Frenzy she'd been desperate to make things right with him and finally make things official between them. She'd even been willing to change careers so she could be with him without him worrying for her. Nation had been the only person to give her hope in humanity since she'd become a prostitute and now he was dead.

Now it was gone, all of what they had. The only good thing she'd had in her life besides the novels she threw herself into for so many years was gone, bleeding on the ground in a lifeless heap. Knowing she'd die if she laid there mourning next to Death-iNation Marilyn quickly got herself up and collected her thoughts. Vision blurred with tears she lunged at Instigator who was laughing maniacally, proud of herself for having finally disposed of one of these annoying Killjoys.

"You're next, blondie…" Instigator cackled, pleased with the things she had managed to accomplish in this building. If Obliterator and Destroyer had as much luck as she had, then perhaps they could celebrate afterward. It sounded absolutely _delightful_. In fact, if that girl her brother was so obsessed with had managed to accomplish what she'd been planning then they could have their fun in the City. Women, men, children… All of them could be their prey. None of them would be saved! They'd all pay for the crimes committed against them in their past. No one had saved them, no one had even tried, so why should they show any mercy for the maggots that infested the City?

"You killed him! Why did you have to kill him? What did he do to you?" Marilyn felt outraged. Her hands were shaking as she tried to look for a way out of the room. She couldn't just leave Death-iNation's body here alone with this woman to do horrible and unspeakable things to it. She had to find a way to either scare the woman off or kill her so she could take Death-iNation's body somewhere to be properly taken care of. She wouldn't let him rot alone here in Battery City for eternity.

"_Why_? Dear girl, you think I needed a reason? You know… I do have a reason to kill _you_ though. After what you've put me through today, you more than deserve to die." Instigator stepped over Death-iNation's body on the ground as though it were just another useless piece of debris, walking toward Marilyn Deathrow. Marilyn looked around helplessly for something to defend herself with but found nothing. Instigator could sense she was terrified of what was to become of her. Closing her eyes, Instigator reached into Marilyn's mind once again.

Crouching forward in pain, Marilyn kept trying to think of something to get the woman out of her mind. All she could see was the pain and hurt that Death-iNation had experienced. She could see Frenzy dying, she could see Poison following not far behind. Their bodies being ravaged and it was all her fault. _But how is it my fault? What did I do to cause it?_ That's when it clicked for Marilyn. This woman was so far off base with her thoughts that she could maybe _trick_ her.

The way the woman was prying into her thoughts was incredibly painful and bringing up the worst of memories for Marilyn, but if she could just keep her thoughts away from what she was planning to do next, then she could maybe get revenge for Death-iNation and find a way to be able to get his body out of the building.

Before Marilyn could even think about going through with the plan she'd begun to formulate in her mind, something stabbed through her stomach, something sharp. Her vision came into focus and she saw the jagged piece of building frame puncturing her flesh. Instigator looked successful and proud, standing over Marilyn's now bloodied form. Pulling the steel bar from the woman's stomach she stabbed at her again, this time higher, through her chest.

Marilyn cried out in pain with the second blow, looking over at the body of Death-iNation when something caught her eye.

Nation's ray gun was lying on the ground only a few inches from her fingertips. Staring at it in awe like it was some gift from heaven, Marilyn wondered if it'd even be worth it to try and reach. There was no way she was going to survive now, not with the way Instigator had stabbed her. She could feel her body draining and quickly.

Grabbing at the gun as fast as her wounded body would allow, Marilyn fired and missed with the first shot, then fired a second time, shooting Instigator right between the eyes. At first nothing happened. Instigator stared down at Marilyn Deathrow in shock, blood dripping from the wound that went straight through to the back of her head. Then the light in her eyes completely faded, and she fell flat on the ground, landing right on top of Marilyn.

Throwing Nation's gun to the side, Marilyn shoved at the dead weight of Instigator on top of her. She wanted to die next to the man she loved, and not underneath the woman who had ripped them apart.

Managing after a few moments of struggle to roll Instigator's heavy form to the side, Marilyn's attempts to get to her feet were futile. Her stomach was in far too much agony to allow her to bend in such a way to reach an upright position.

Determined to get back to where Death-iNation's body was regardless of the pain, Marilyn crawled forward, one hand on her stomach, in an attempt to keep her innards where they belonged. She had this terrible mental image that if she let go then all of her entrails would come pouring out of her stomach and drag along with her. Coughing and spitting out blood, she continued to press forward. Finally she managed to make her way back to Death-iNation. He looked pale.

He looked dead.

Though Marilyn had known that he was dead before this, the weight of this crippling fact hit her again. Dead was _it_. It was the end of everything. There was nothing else, no magical potion that could bring them back like in a game or a book. Life had cheated them of everything they'd wanted and now death cheated them of the little joy they'd found in living.

Laying down in exhaustion on the floor next to Death-iNation, Marilyn rested her head on his shoulder, her nose brushing just slightly against the stubble on the side of his neck. She'd always loved that he'd had facial hair. She used to joke that he was one of the only men in the zones manly enough to grow a beard.

Marilyn nearly jumped a mile when Death-iNation started to cough and gag on the blood that was catching in his throat. He gasped for breath and opened his eyes, making a wild attempt to sit up when he realized he was conscious.

"Marilyn!" Nation shouted, his voice hoarse, blood dripping over his lips.

"Shh, shh… I'm right here Nation." Marilyn looked down at him, resting her tingling hands on either side of his face to force him to look at her. Nation didn't recognize her for a moment, but after realizing it was her pale face in front of him, smiled, despite the blood spilling down his lips and over his chin.

"Marilyn… what…?" Death-iNation struggled with talking. All he could think of was keeping Marilyn safe but as he felt her body next to him and the blood seeping through her clothing and onto his skin, he knew there was little he could do to protect her now.

"It's okay… She's gone…" Marilyn Deathrow smiled softly, the pain still written all over her face from the wounds she'd suffered.

"I'm dying…" Death-iNation wanted to say more, but the pain was clouding his thoughts.

"No… no, we're just going to sleep okay? Together." Marilyn gave him a kiss on his bloodied lips and closed her eyes. At least in the end, she'd spend her last moments with the man she loved.

"Sleep?" Death-iNation furrowed his brow, bringing his hand up painstakingly to brush her blond hair out of her face, only to watch it fall back down once again, tickling at his neck.

"Yeah… just pretend we're home and you had a long day at work. You can't keep your eyes open anymore and you just want to hold me like a teddy bear."

"And dream of you?" Death-iNation finally smiled. Marilyn choked on her tears and didn't say anything for fear of letting them fall and instead nodded her head to let him know it was exactly what she wanted him to do. "I love you Marilyn Deathrow."

Marilyn let her lips hang open, hearing those words from her lover's mouth. She'd wanted to hear them for so long and just when she thought she'd lost the chance there they were. Death-iNation wanted to tell her why he hadn't responded to her in the first place. It wasn't out of fear, it wasn't out of guilt, it was because he didn't want to hold her back at such a young age. But now, lying here in their blood, he knew that age had nothing to do with love. As corny as it sounded in his mind to think that, it was the smartest thing he'd thought of in regards to their relationship in a very long time.

"I love you too Death-iNation. I always have." Marilyn felt her body growing weaker. She couldn't keep her head up so instead she laid it down again on his shoulder. The edges of her vision were growing dark and the sound of Nation's fluttering heart beat soothed the pain in her body, or was she going numb?

Death-iNation closed his eyes, his own body numbing. He felt responsible for Marilyn dying but there was nothing he could do to go back and change the past. They'd both made the decision on their own to follow Frenzy into the fire and when they'd gotten burned they had both knows the risks.

_It was a risk that was worth taking._

Marilyn fought to stay awake as long as she could, but as she closed her eyes she could hear her heart thundering in her ears. She tried once more to keep herself awake but knew it would be a futile attempt.

She struggled against the darkness for a few fleeting moments before she gave up.

Then there was nothing.


	40. The Cure

Setting off the bombs she'd set up underneath the computers hadn't had the effect that Fire Frenzy had been hoping for. While Destroyer had been blown through two floors along with most of the computer system and the damage had seemed incredible, apparently it hadn't been enough to stop Destroyer. She'd watched the building shaking after having gotten to her feet since the force of the blow had knocked her back. If she did much more damage to it, the building would collapse. Somehow Destroyer, which Frenzy had started comparing to a movie monster inside of her head, had managed to climb his way back up through the cavernous hole she'd blown him into.

The moment he'd returned to his feet he'd come at her with ferocity unmatched by previous rivals. His fingers were torn apart by the explosion and his body was charred and bloodied thanks to the shrapnel from the computer. Despite it all, he seemed more ravenous than he had before the explosion and more determined than ever to repay Fire Frenzy the damage she'd done to him and then some.

Fire Frenzy spent most of her time dodging the blows from Destroyer who leapt at her haphazardly each time he could find his footing and when she wasn't within range instead threw whatever he could get his hands on. Nearly unpredictable was about the best phrase that Frenzy could use to describe Destroyer after his return. When he'd first found her she thought perhaps he'd had some rational sense of things but now as she watched him attacking, Frenzy knew there was no sanity within him.

_He really is nothing like me. I may be out of my mind, but part of it's still there._ As the fight continued, the room shook more and more with an unnatural hum, as if Destroyer's rage were taking on some kind of tangible form through the building around them. Steel braces and support beams creaked under the damage being done by Destroyer in his rage. He smashed through pieces of the floor, the wall, tore apart things no human should have been able to even lift. If she'd had more time to observe what he was doing, then Frenzy would've been struck paralyzed by fear. Thankfully, given how quickly he'd gone from menacing to violent, she hadn't much time to dwell on it; only to react.

Frenzy forced herself forward onto her hands and knees in a crawl after she'd managed to kick Destroyer off of her for about the fourteenth time in the last ten minutes. It seemed to be the only thing that worked when he attempted to pin her down. She'd made the mistake to try and writhe away from beneath him but it'd only made her more vulnerable to insult and attack. Regardless of what kind of enhanced experimental being he was, there wasn't a male creature in history that enjoyed being kicked hard in the crotch. _If Poison was here he'd tell me that even Better Living Industries experiments didn't deserve this treatment. Fuck that, I'll do whatever I need to so I can keep him off of me. _

Unfortunately, thanks to previous wounds and the repeated act of kicking at Destroyer, her right leg would no longer properly support her. While her left leg was sore and damaged from the infection that had been caused by the wounds she'd inflicted upon herself in her bunker to commemorate the children she'd buried in her graveyard, it had somehow turned out to be her stronger leg. _I'm still convinced this fucker is venomous. My leg hasn't been the same since he bit me. I'm not one to complain, but damnit, this fucking hurts._

Managing to jump back onto her feet while Destroyer was distracted throwing his tattered and burning jacket aside, Frenzy grabbed her flamethrower where it had fallen off of her shoulder during the battle, crouched low and started at a run. The room had become an obstacle course and rather cramped thanks to the combined damage done by Destroyer, the explosion and only added onto by the fires that Frenzy had been setting with her lighter whenever she'd gotten the chance to. Her skin was charred and blackened in places where she'd been burned from her own fires. Luckily, she wasn't feeling any pain from the burns themselves. Guessing shock had something to do with it, Frenzy wasn't going to argue. Besides, she'd been through worse in the last week.

Having hoped that the fires she'd been setting would hinder Destroyer, Frenzy continued to set them when she saw the opportunity, but it seemed as though the man wasn't at all bothered by the fire as it licked his skin, even though entire parts of his clothing had caught on fire once his jacket had been disposed of. _He's lost fingernails, and doesn't seem bothered. Doesn't he feel any pain? Maybe he's as jacked up on painkillers as I am._

Distracted by her own thoughts, Fire Frenzy had moved out of the way just in time. The floor beneath where she'd fallen to the ground after leaping out of Destroyer's way had given out and collapsed onto the floor below in a fiery mess. _Hopefully that didn't hit Nation or Marilyn. I don't hear them fighting anymore, but it's not exactly easy to focus._ She could see the beams in the floor had remained intact but the insulation and wooden support had given out under the weight of the damage done and the fire burning at the flammable materials.

Cursing as she realized that the time she'd taken to observe the collapse of the floor below her had left her weak, vulnerable and open for attack, she attempted to get back to her feet but it was too late. Frenzy was suddenly grabbed by the back of her shirt as she rolled onto her stomach and easily thrown across the room, much like a ragdoll.

Her chest hit the wall and she saw stars when her head smacked back against it afterward, despite her attempt at keeping her head leaned back to avoid the wall and having thrown her hands against the wall to try and soften the blow. Before she could push away from the wall entirely with her now weakened wrists that had absorbed the blow, Destroyer grabbed her by the back of her neck and shoved her harder against the wall, forcing her head against it a second time.

Pieces of dry wall and dust from the cracks in the wall made upon her impact fell in her face and she coughed after she inhaled them and closed her eyes to keep them from obstructing her vision. _We can't linger here. We have to think of a way to get him off of you. Why are you fighting so hard against him, anyway? I don't want to be ripped to shreds by some psychopath! Further torture was not part of the plan, don't you remember? Who cares, you're going to meet same end regardless of the means._

"Come back home, little girl." Destroyer shoved her into the wall again by the back of her neck, noticing she wasn't paying attention to a word he was saying. Frenzy kicked purposely at his shin with her left foot in response then smashed his foot in hopes of throwing off his balance, to no avail. Destroyer grabbed her wrists and twisted Frenzy to face him. Aiming to hit Destroyer on the gut, Frenzy didn't get a chance when both of his hands met her throat and began to squeeze. Grabbing onto both of his hands instinctively, Frenzy dug her nails into his burnt and flaking skin, hoping she would be able to cause him enough pain to urge him to drop her. Nothing seemed to bother him, despite her efforts. "You disappeared for a moment there, where did you go? Not doing so well are we?"

"You're awfully self-important aren't you?" Fire Frenzy wondered if she could keep Destroyer talking. _What is it with villains and endlessly blathering on? Way to fit the stereotype._ Even if he talked about things that would bother her later or haunt her, it didn't matter since later wasn't going to go on for very long. The less pain he caused her the better, so the mental scars he'd cause would be less painful. Coughing and gagging, Frenzy stretched her neck and leaned her head back in an attempt to easier breathe to no avail. Destroyer merely squeezed harder and spread his fingers over her exposed neck. Met with another shove in retaliation to her clawing, Frenzy saw stars again for a fleeting moment.

"Do you know what I did to those kids after your little friend came to save you from me?" Destroyer hissed quietly, ignoring Frenzy's nails as they dug into his flesh, tearing chunks of his charred skin away from his muscles just like the skin off of a cooked turkey. It hurt, but the pain could be dealt with later. "You're bleeding, little girl…" For a very brief moment a twitch of a smile appeared over his lips before fading into a snarl.

"Stop calling me that." Frenzy ignored his taunt. _I'm not a little girl, why would he call me that?_ It didn't matter to her that she was bleeding. Sure, it was painful and all but it wasn't going to slow her down. Besides, it wasn't like it was some huge secret she had started bleeding again. Of _course_ she was bleeding, if she hadn't been bleeding after being thrown around like a rag doll through the remainders of a burning building then she would've been concerned that Better Living Industries had done something to her that she didn't recall.

"Does it _bother_ you?" Destroyer mocked, cocking his head to the side like a curious animal. Fire Frenzy tried to think of a way to escape his grip, now that her hands were covered in burnt flesh and gore from the way she'd pried at his arms and had failed at her goal. Her gag reflex tried to kick in so she didn't respond to his query. What could she do to get him off of her? Her head was starting to spin from lack of oxygen. She had to get back to the bag she'd dropped after the explosion and grab the remaining detonators so she could blow up the rest of the building. While she had hoped to give Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow enough extra time to escape the building before she blew it to high heaven, Frenzy couldn't think of any other way to kill Destroyer other than to bring the entire building down on top of them both.

Taking her lack of response as a sign that the nickname _did_ indeed bother her, Destroyer pressed on in hopes of further upsetting her. He clearly wanted to break her spirit as well as her body before he put her out of her misery, if that was what he intended to do at all. "Why is that, hmm? Did someone _else_ call you little girl, perhaps? Did someone _hurt_ you, little girl?" Destroyer chuckled darkly, licking his bloodied lips in hopes of disgusting her.

"You're way of base, asshole." Fire Frenzy _wasn't_ bothered by the nickname, at least not in the way that Destroyer seemed to be hinting at, but she wasn't about to rationalize it with a psychopath either. That in itself seemed like insanity. Returning her attention once again to her escape attempts, Frenzy remembered she _did _have another weapon. She had a knife hidden within a sheath in her boot, but if she moved to reach it she'd be caught. Damn her boot for being so far away from her hands at this point. The only other thing Frenzy had within her reach was her lighter and he didn't seem to be all that bothered by the fact that she'd been setting him relentlessly on fire. Though she didn't let on, this bothered her greatly. Fire had always been the only weapon that had always worked, no matter the villain.

"Oh am I? What is it then that bothers you so much?" Destroyer glanced to the side in thought, wondering what else he could do to drive her mad. "Is it because of that little girl you were helping, perhaps? The little one you sent running out the door so I wouldn't harm her? You think she'll _actually_ get out of here? My sister and brother will make sure that she doesn't leave the building alive and if she manages to get out, by some sliver of a chance, Better Living Industries will be waiting for her with open arms, I'm sure. What life have you given to her by saving her from the one that would so quickly be ended here? You're a dealer of false hope, little girl."

"Oh get off it, you megalomaniacal fuck. You're nothing but a piece of shit experiment; a failed experiment at that! At least that's what I'd call you, considering what a _great_ job you're doing following orders from those who created you! If it weren't for Better Living you'd be another one of the crushed orphans that I _waste_ my time saving." Frenzy's words were strangled as they came out, Destroyer's fingers gripping tighter at her throat upon hearing her insult.

"There's nothing _failed_ about me, little girl… Now you're the one who's way off base. I'm super human, better than the others, better than even my brother and sister and you're a fool for thinking anything else. You know what _makes_ me better than them?" Destroyer could smell the blood dripping down the back of her neck from where he'd smashed her head so many times into the wall and it was intoxicating. Bringing his scraped and torn fingers around to the back of her head, the other still at her neck to keep her pinned, Destroyer ran his fingers through the trickle of blood and smeared it over her face. "_You know what makes me better?_" The fire and excitement in his eyes intensified at the sight of the blood, the wicked smile returning to his lips.

"I don't fucking care. How about that? If you want to boost your own ego by telling me how fantastic you are then you can save your breath because I _don't_ care. You mean _nothing_." Frenzy groaned in misery as Destroyer smashed her head into the wall again. Her body couldn't take much more of being slammed into the wall. If she passed out she'd lose control over the situation and while she was hoping Destroyer would kill her if such a thing happened since he lacked control as well, she couldn't be sure and it was a risk she couldn't take. Frenzy had to _take_ a completely different kind of risk to get out of the precarious situation she'd found herself in.

"What makes me better," Destroyer hissed, only mildly annoyed that Fire Frenzy didn't have any interest in what he had to say, "is that I have no… attachments. You humans… you get so upset when you see another hurting, or something you've loved has been taken away from you. You know what's important to me?"

"Once again, I don't care." Fire Frenzy was growing weary listening to his ranting. He was insulting her intelligence by ignoring her insistence that she was disinterested in what he had to say but she wasn't really in the position to argue. _It'd been stupid to try and get him to talk, he's incredibly boring. I have never been good at entertaining uninteresting people._

"Blood… _your_ blood at the moment." Destroyer laughed maniacally, leaning close enough so that Frenzy could smell his rancid breath. Gripping hard once against at his wrists in a renewed attempt to escape from his grip on her throat, Frenzy kicked and thrashed, hoping to annoy him and force him to at least drop her to the ground. Unfortunately, he was only fueled by the way she fought him and held her tighter. There were only two options, as far as she could tell; she could either grab her knife in her boot or reach for her flamethrower which the momentum of the attack had knocked from her hand and she could see laying a few feet away from where they stood. Attempting to easily lift her from the ground, Destroyer was surprised that it wasn't _as_ easy as he had expected it to be. Something about him had changed. The strength he'd been so sure he'd possessed before was dwindling, if not already completely gone.

Apparently not bothered by this fact, Destroyer still lifted her so her feet were dangling above the ground, using his spare hand to help give him the strength to do so. Her head was spinning and her neck was aching from the force being pressed onto it. Frenzy, despite feeling completely manhandled, noticed that the strength he'd had before was fading. Something about the grip on her throat even felt weaker, and while she knew her skin was already black and blue she felt like she might have a chance at getting away.

"What, not as strong as you were before? What happened?" Frenzy spoke in a mocking tone, the best she could manage despite the pain in her neck and the way her throat felt like it was closing beneath his grip.

"Don't you taunt me, you little bitch!" Destroyer practically screamed at her, eyes alight with rage, spit flying from his mouth. At this point Fire Frenzy had stopped caring that she'd made this beast angry. There was nothing she could say to placate him and she had never been good at begging, so that was out of the question. Spitting in his face wasn't the best idea Frenzy had ever had but seeing the anger practically boiling the liquid on his face had been worth it.

Frenzy was utterly surprised when Destroyer actually _smacked_ her across the face. Scoffing, despite the position she was in, she couldn't help but mock the action. He'd _smacked_her; how ridiculous.

"_Really_?"

"Listen you little bitch, you… and you listen closely…" Destroyer hissed in Fire Frenzy's ear, determined to break her. "You'll beg me to stop by the time that I'm done. Any… hopes you might have had of me going easy on you… rest assured, they've faded."

"Beg you? The only thing I'll be begging you to do is to shut the fuck up. God you're boring for someone who is trying to kill me." Fire Frenzy knew that she was going to get burned, playing with this man when she clearly had little to no control over the situation at hand.

"…you know what happened after your friend came to save you from me at the theater? When that little blond fuck came and… carried you away?" Destroyer hissed. Frenzy didn't respond, her confidence faltering for the first time since he'd pinned her to the wall. "Not so cocky now are we, you little bitch?"

"Just kill me and get it over with." Frenzy rolled her eyes, but there was a hesitation in her voice that even she caught when she'd said it. _Don't let it get to you. He's just saying these things because he knows how upset it made you to see those kids getting hurt in the theater. He knows you came back for Grace and he's trying to hit you where it counts. Ignore him Frenzy, find a way to get back to the detonators. You've given Marilyn and Nation enough time to get out, you've got to end this._

"Oh, singing a much different tune now, aren't we?" Destroyer's burnt and bloodied lips brushed against the skin of her neck as he spoke, fangs barely touching her skin and threatening to bite down on it, his nails digging into her skin as his grip on her tightened. "My sister… she wouldn't let me have the little girl who came after you… Said she was important to Better Living Industries and took her away… but she did… she did let me back into the theater afterward. Those children you left behind… the ones you doomed to the fate they met when you left me to them…oh they were _delicious_." Frenzy didn't respond, but instead tried to focus on how to get to her knife from its sheath. Her lighter was useless in this situation, though she found herself flicking it now every once in awhile to try and help her stay calm. She couldn't lose it right now, not when it really counted. _If I lose it now, he wins._

"They screamed as I cut their flesh. I cut _them_ because I couldn't get to _you_… I saw how badly you wanted to get them out of that theater. I made it so they'd _never_ see anything again and their last memory would be you condemning them to torture and death by my hands." Destroyer nipped at her skin and whispered. "…they bled when I bit them, screamed when I ripped their flesh…pled when I took their innocence away." Destroyer chuckled against her skin. "All because of you."

"Stop it."

"Oh finally a reaction!" Destroyer seemed excited to see he'd upset her. "You don't like that very much, do you? You don't like that I did those things to them because of you? Well I _did_… when you were gone and out of my reach and I wasn't allowed to chase you, what was I supposed to do? You _hurt_ me, truly hurt me that day… and you expected me not to come after you? They all expected me to be able to let it go but no… no every time… that I closed my eyes, I could see that darling little face, twisted in pain and I craved to see it again. I envisioned it you know… when I tortured them. I pretended they were you."

"Shut up!" Frenzy wanted to cover her ears but as she attempted, Destroyer shoved her hands down, dropping her momentarily so she was forced to support herself with her own legs, which unsurprisingly, didn't work very well. The force on her knees would've sent her to the floor if Destroyer hadn't reaffirmed his grip on her. Breathing greedily to refill her sore and aching lungs now that her throat had been freed, Frenzy made an attempt to dash away but Destroyer grabbed her by her waist and shoved her once again back into place, keeping his hands at her sides. While it grossed her out to have his hands on her, she was relieved her neck had been left alone.

"You are going to _listen_ to me, you little bitch! You're going to listen to how I killed each and every one of them! How I ripped their limbs apart, cut out their throats and ripped out their eyes! I made them watch as I killed the others, so they'd all know what was coming for them! Your fault! Your fault! Your fault!" Destroyer laughed maniacally and then his snake like tongue slithered out of his mouth and over her face, to devour the blood he'd smeared over her skin, his drool dripping down her skin.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Frenzy hissed in anger, attempting once again in vain to try to shove Destroyer off of her. She couldn't listen to his taunting anymore, his descriptions of torture. _Just keep telling yourself he's a liar. He's a liar and he's only saying these things to make you feel responsible and guilty. He's trying to break you down. Well… it's working._ Desperate to get away from Destroyer and to get him to stop talking about the children he'd maimed, Frenzy pulled up her bloodied right leg and reached for the knife she kept there in her boot. As she'd earlier predicted would happen when she made the attempt, Destroyer saw what she was up to and didn't give her the chance.

"You're not going anywhere, you little bitch! You are going to sit and you are going to listen to what I have to say!" Picking her up with, once again, surprising strength that Frenzy had thought he'd lost Destroyer threw her hard onto the floor. Attempting to make herself roll on impact, Frenzy nearly fell into the gaping hole that led to the floors below them created by the explosion. She didn't have any time to get herself off of the ground, and even if she did, she was sure she didn't have the strength to do it, so instead Frenzy reaffirmed the grip on her lighter and grabbed the knife from her boot as quickly as she could manage.

Before she could attempt to roll onto her back and get to her feet, Destroyer had jumped on top of her again. Grabbing a handful of her hair, he shoved her onto her back and straddled her waist, drool dripping from his unnaturally sharpened teeth and splattering onto her skin. Resisting the urge to gag, Frenzy tightened her grip on the only two weapons she could get her hands on.

"I've decided what I'm going to do with you!" Destroyer said, out of breath, practically panting and the look of excitement bright in his otherwise dead eyes. Frenzy didn't respond or egg him on. For the first time since she'd started fighting Destroyer in this building she felt _true_ fear. She wasn't going to be able to get to the detonators she'd been forced to drop while fighting this man who continually got the best of her. She'd have to wait until either the building collapsed or until Destroyer killed her. At least she had destroyed the computers, which had been her main goal. _But at what cost?_ All of those children that Destroyer had murdered on her account; was it really worth all she'd gone through to get to this point? All she'd managed to do was prod and provoke the beast that was torturing the very things she'd been trying for years to save.

"I'm going to do to you what I did to those little children… the only thing I regret is that your little friend from the theater won't be here to watch as I rip you apart limb from limb… as I steal what little innocence you have left, if any. I'll torture you and make you an example to anyone else who wants to get in _my_ way." Destroyer hissed at her with a sickened grin across his face. His head cocked to the side when she didn't react and when she struggled to get away he twisted her left wrist unnaturally until he heard it snap. Finally, Frenzy reacted to some of the pain she'd been feeling with a scream of anguish as she felt the surge of pain rush up to her shoulder. If her wrist wasn't broken she'd be terribly surprised. This was the end. She knew it.

"You drove me _mad_, you little bitch! I can't stop thinking about how you got away from me at the theater. You got away from me twice, damnit. Every time I close my eyes, every time the room goes silent I see it over and over like a loop replaying in my head… of how you got away from me. When you're gone… I'll function again… you… it's _you_… you drove me mad. You did this to me!"

"You were already fucking mad! I didn't drive you to it, you dickhead!" Frenzy choked out, managing to keep herself from sobbing in pain despite how badly she wanted to. Her wrist hurt, it was hard to think of much else besides the pain that she felt shooting through her arm every time she took a breath. She couldn't even flick her lighter with her left hand anymore; it took all of the strength she had just to keep her grip on it.

"I hunted you after you left. I had thought for sure that you'd go back into the zones where all your kind hide from the big bad evil corporation but instead… I found no trace of you. I found many Killjoys… oh and those little girls you set free, too… I killed them… but still found nothing." Destroyer smirked, but there was a deep sorrow and misery in his voice that Frenzy hadn't noticed before. _Maybe he's as tortured as I am and just looking in the wrong places for a way out. Though it's not like I've found a really good way out of it either, considering where I've ended up._ "My sister hunted me after I escaped from the new facility and when she found me? She told me just where you'd gone too… She'd run into someone who was looking for you in the zones. You came into the City after he saved you… you're a clever little bitch, you thought I wouldn't keep looking for you here didn't you?"

"Right, because surely I was just thinking about how you were looking for me… It had nothing to do with anything other than that you self centered prick." Frenzy couldn't do this for much longer. She couldn't get to the detonators and she couldn't finish what she'd started. She was in far too much pain and despite the drugs she'd been on there was only so much pain her body could take before her defenses kicked in and sent her into unconsciousness to protect her from the torture this man wished to inflict upon her. Somehow, Frenzy knew if she blacked out, then she would wake up unharmed any further, but still captured by the man who wanted to harm her. Despite how unstable Destroyer seemed, she had a feeling he was as cold and calculating as his siblings seemed to be underneath the mask of insanity.

So, in one last ditch attempt to get away from Destroyer, Frenzy tightened her grip on the knife in her right hand and stabbed at Destroyer's chest. Before the blade could cut into his flesh he grabbed her wrist, tightened his grip to a point where she was forced to drop the blade then picked it up himself, stabbing it into her chest just as she had intended to do. Screaming once again in agony and coughing as she felt her lungs instantly constrict, Frenzy writhed in pain, attempting to tug at the knife but the pain that met the initial tug stopped her.

Destroyer cackled as he watched her scream in pain beneath his touch. It tickled him to see the torture he'd inflicted on her actually causing her to react, since she'd seemed so numb to his attacks for quite some time. "Know your place! You see what you get? You made me do it! You'll learn your lesson and your place, little girl!" Destroyer laughed, letting his hand brush around the wound he'd created, gathering her blood and wiping it over her face as if to mock her with what he'd done.

"God you're _fun!_ Maybe I'll let you live, after all! Maybe you and I could have some fun for much longer than this, hmm? I could use you until there's nothing left! That's it! You'll feel the pain of each and every one of those children you left at my hand that day! How does that sound? In fact I'll bring them to you for comfort if you like! You like dead children don't you? My sister told me about them, you know…" Destroyer grinned merrily, excited by the idea he'd come up with. "You know, my siblings could use a toy to play with as well… perhaps… perhaps they would enjoy you as much as I do. What fun this could be!"

"Fuck…" Frenzy coughed and gagged then before she'd realized what she'd done, she started to laugh. _What's so funny?_ Destroyer seemed to be wondering the same thing as he stared down at Frenzy, but she couldn't hear what he was yelling at her anymore. _All this hell I went through to save them and I ended up actually making it all worse!_ Her body ached and shook with pain as Destroyer slammed her into the ground again out of frustration. Frenzy grabbed onto Destroyer's arm with the little strength she had left. With her left hand, that she'd been trying to work up enough strength with to flick the lighter with, she finally managed to and set his sleeve on fire.

Destroyer tried to pull his arm away from Frenzy, who was still laughing, apparently out of her mind. _I don't care anymore! That's it, it's time to end this! I'll kill us both, I'll end it now! _

"Let go of me you bitch! Let go!" Destroyer howled like a wounded puppy as the fire liked his skin.

"Finally, a reaction from you!" Frenzy laughed, mocking the way he'd talked to her earlier when she'd been bothered by his words about the orphans. Dropping her lighter and letting go of Destroyer's arm, and deciding to take advantage of the way she'd so startled Destroyer, Frenzy grabbed at the handle of the knife in her chest.

With a swift tug and a sick sucking sound accompanied by a jolt of pain, it came free of her flesh and she swung it with as much strength as she could toward Destroyer. Crimson blood spilled from his throat and over her chest. Destroyer grabbed instinctively at his throat, but Frenzy wasn't going to waste the little time she had. Turning the knife in her hand she stabbed it hard into his chest just as he had done to her. Laughing again at the sight of the blood dripping from Destroyer's chest and throat, she finally spoke what was on her mind.

"I'm not leaving this place alive, you sick fuck, and neither are you."

* * *

><p>Vengeful Venom's body broke through the wall as Obliterator threw him with all of the strength he had left. The wall hadn't broken from the initial blow, but from repeated blows of both men crashing into the wall. As the fight had continued, the unnatural strength that had been lost to Obliterator seemed to slowly return, but perhaps it had been fueled on rage rather than fueled on whatever power the machine he'd destroyed had given to them. His head was spinning from the continued abuse and the darkness of unconsciousness was creeping around his eyes again, threatening to end the fight quickly. The wounds he'd sustained during both battles with Obliterator along with the combination of the blow to the head he'd taken as he'd crashed through the wall were getting to him and building up. Adrenaline and shock had been his ally for too long and had apparently abandoned ship. Vengeful Venom had to end this soon or he was sure to die and lose Rainbow Riot and his unborn child, since he doubted that she could get away on her own.<p>

Obliterator seemed less interested in Venom now that the man had disappeared through the wall and turned his attention to the woman who had been firing annoying shots into his chest. He was bleeding and woozy after taking blow after blow for the last ten minutes. Unlike his siblings, he could feel the pain of the wounds inflicted upon him; it was one of the things that had made him the most successful project of the three.

He could still feel and function normally in situations like this one, which allowed him to gauge when to fall back and when to proceed. His sister lost control when she'd been wounded and her head became increasingly vulnerable when she used her mental abilities and hell if he knew how to control Destroyer when he went off the deep end. Instigator seemed to be the only one able to get a hold on him. The whole building was trembling around him and pieces of the ceiling kept falling and interrupting their fight as well as his thoughts.

Rainbow Riot tried to duck out of the way as Obliterator came after her, wanting to get to Venom to make sure he was alright. Her panic was making her a shitty shot and so she had given up on shooting at Obliterator and had instead decided to just stay out of his way now that his eyes were on her, rather than on Venom. There was no strategy she could come up with in time to help her escape. Every scenario that popped into her mind ended with either her or Venom dead. The building was collapsing around her and she wasn't sure how she would get both her and her love out alive, nonetheless Poison and Frenzy on the floors above. Hope of escape was dwindling in her mind. Now all she strived for was to be by Venom's side.

"Stay still!" Obliterator yelled in frustration as the blade in his hand slashed at the air again where Rainbow Riot had once stood. She was sneakier than he had thought she could be. Deciding she had to take action instead of continually trying to dodge attacks, Riot aimed shot after shot at Obliterator's right arm and as she had hoped, he dropped the sword in his hand after the third blow. Instead of going to pick up his sword like she'd hoped for, Obliterator went after _her_. Not having anticipated this move, Riot didn't have the time to run out of the way and dodge Obliterator. Glancing at the hole in the wall that Venom had left when he'd been thrown through it, Riot hoped that he was still alive somewhere on the other side.

Obliterator grabbed Rainbow Riot and swung her around and pushed her hard toward the wall that Venom had flown through. Yelping in surprise, Rainbow Riot attempted to use all of her bulk to push at Obliterator to try and get him off of her. Shoving at her again, Obliterator grabbed at her throat and decided to strangle the life out of her. If he could get her unconscious then he could finish her and her little boyfriend off easily with one of their own guns, or better yet he could retrieve his sword and pierce their flesh. Watching them bleed like pigs was far more satisfying than an oozing laser wound, at least to him.

"Venom!" Rainbow Riot managed to scream before the air in her lungs had become too constricted by the force around her neck. Spots appeared in her vision as Obliterator squeezed at her throat relentlessly. He wasn't trying to taunt her the way that he'd been so intent on doing to Vengeful Venom, instead he seemed to just want to get it over with which wasn't working to her advantage at this time. This wasn't how she had pictured this fight would go. Why couldn't he just have gone after his sword, then she would've had time to knock him to the ground and blow a hole through his head!

That was the only problem with being a planner of battles. When things went wrong with the one she'd come up with, she wasn't one to think quickly on her feet. That's why she had left the fighting to other people. It took her time to come up with the ideas she'd sold so efficiently through the zones for so many years. But now, none of that mattered, despite the way that Vengeful Venom had attempted to train her with what he had learned when he'd become a Drac so many years prior.

Riot stomped her foot down hard on Obliterator's toes and when his grip actually relented and some of her vision returned to her once oxygen was able to make it to her lungs, she lifted her leg, kneed Obliterator in the crotch and then kicked him hard away from her. She didn't realize that he'd taken the gun from her holster when she'd first stomped on his foot. It was all he could think to do besides getting more physical and risk his own body to more harm. He was able to decide what was worth the risk and what wasn't in battle, and was able to analyze what he would do before he did it. Obliterator was the best that Better Living Industries could come up with.

Vengeful Venom shook off the urge to fall unconscious when he heard Rainbow Riot screaming his name. He got to his feet and stumbled, seeing Obliterator being thrown away from the wall, apparently by Rainbow Riot who had been attacked by him in some way. Obliterator was aiming something at Riot; her ray gun.

"No!" Vengeful Venom scrambled out of the hole in the wall, tripping over his feet but managing to stay upright and ran headlong at Obliterator to hopefully get to him before he pulled the trigger, but it was too late. The blow of the laser ripped through Vengeful Venom's chest, but didn't go any further than his body. Grabbing the gun out of Obliterator's stunned hands as they both fell to the ground, Vengeful Venom rolled away from him.

Obliterator got to his feet, stumbling, looking around for the hat he usually wore over his neat hair. Turning the gun in his hand, Vengeful Venom leaned up, his vision darkening even as he aimed. _Please, just let me do this one thing before I go._ Aiming the gun, he fired. The shot ripped through Obliterator's forehead and out the back of it, blood spraying across the wall behind him. Vengeful Venom lost his grip on the gun and fell backwards onto the ground. Obliterator stared for a moment in recognition of what was happening but fell to the ground seconds after impact, lifeless.  
>"Venom?" Rainbow Riot stared in awe at the bloody scene in front of her. She hadn't even gotten to react to what either man had done before it had all been over. In movies death seemed to drag on and everyone got to say goodbye but in reality, it was a flash before it was over. Unsure of how to respond, Riot ran over to where Venom laid bleeding and lifeless on the ground. "Venom?" She asked again, trying to get a rise out of him. When he didn't respond she searched around his wrist for a pulse, ignoring the gaping wound in his chest from the laser fire. Though she smelled smoke starting to engulf the building, Riot didn't give up on Vengeful Venom quite yet.<p>

When she found no pulse she panicked and started to pump at his chest, ignoring once again the wound that she could feel oozing beneath her fingers. Blowing air into his mouth only released a spray of blood from the wound in his chest. Bursting into tears, Riot leaned her head against Vengeful Venom's and cradled his body in her arms. He'd sacrificed himself to save her. She'd never see his smiling face again and he'd never find the peace he'd searched for all those years.

Now that the fight was over, the building was oddly quiet except for a rumbling of some kind of fight happening overhead. Looking up and around as she cradled Venom's body in her arms, she could hear the steel of the building creaking and threatening to give way. Fire was creeping down the halls, catching onto anything flammable and destroying everything in its path. Rainbow Riot didn't care, in fact she found the fire oddly beautiful. She didn't want to leave Vengeful Venom here alone when she knew the building would bury what was left of him. She didn't have the strength to carry him to safety, so she'd stay here with him until the building fell around them and she joined him in his peaceful looking slumber.

Slipping Vengeful Venom's jacket off of his shoulders, she pulled it around her own. The world felt cold without him, and though the jacket was bloodied and tattered, it provided her with comfort. Closing her eyes, Riot resounded herself to the fact that the end for her and her child was near. When her heart rate slowed and she'd accepted that she would die with the only man she'd ever loved, the silence broke.

"In here!" A familiar voice caught Riot's ear, though she couldn't place it immediately. She looked up and toward the hallway in search of the source. Phoenix Fury, along with a team of bruised up Killjoys, had stormed the building with flashlights in hand. Bloodied and beaten up, looking concerned, Phoenix Fury ran into the room where Rainbow Riot sat with Vengeful Venom so close to her, his head lifelessly on her lap.

"Come on!" Captain Phantom, who had entered behind Phoenix, offered her arm to Rainbow Riot, trying to help her off of the ground and away from the body of Vengeful Venom. Everything was happening in a blur for Riot. There were suddenly a dozen Killjoys running through the building in search of people to pull out to safety before it could collapse. A second group was running past the one in the room with her and up the staircase at the end of the hallway.

"I can't leave him here." Riot whispered to Phantom, not sure she would even hear the response that she'd given because of how weak her voice felt. Nothing seemed right without Venom.

"You have to, the building is coming down. You'll die if you stay here." Captain Phantom rationalized, not having the time to offer sympathy and condolences for the loss Riot had suffered. "We've got to get you out before it crashes down. The Dracs retreated after we got the upper hand in battle. We're almost _free_."

"I… I can't." Rainbow Riot repeated. There were no words to explain what was going on in her mind. For once, Rainbow Riot couldn't think up a strategy to handle what had happened. Phoenix Fury interrupted them both before Phantom could respond and placed a comforting hand on Rainbow Riot's shoulder.

"You don't have to leave him." Phoenix bent down and picked up the body of Vengeful Venom, removing him from Riot's lap. "He died a Killjoy, so he'll receive a burial like one." Feeling the tears in her eyes, Riot nodded her head after taking in Phoenix's kind words and took the hand that Captain Phantom impatiently offered a second time. Riot's body felt numb as she hurried from the building. The City was in ruins, buildings on fire nearby the Central Command, and smoke obscuring anything further. The fire must have spread from the collapsing building onto the nearby ones. Hopefully, they wouldn't collapse as Central Command seemed destined to. Surprisingly, there were no sirens going off in warning and next to no Dracs coming to the aid of their fallen comrades. It seemed as though the only Dracs that remained alive were begging for their lives.

"Come on, over here! We need to make sure you're alright." Captain Phantom led Rainbow Riot over to Bad Medicine, her medic from her home in the second zone and allowed the woman to look her over. Reaching into the jacket for comfort again, Riot found something crumpled up in the pocket. It was a piece of paper. Pulling it out, her eyes scanned over it curiously; it was a letter.

_Riot, if you're reading this then it looks like I didn't make it out of Battery City. I was hoping that I'd get to come home to you. I'm sorry for the grief that I caused you but you have to live on even if I can't. _

_ When I escaped from Better Living Industries all those years ago they had planned to use me as some kind of experiment to make a super drug. When I hadn't reacted to the experiments as they had hoped, they realized something about me was different than all the others they had tested before me. I'm immune to their regular drugs, which they form from the poison out in the seventh zone. When they realized someone could build up an immunity to the poison, they realized that a cure could also be made from my blood. They didn't want that to happen so they were going to use me to create a drug that would harm me as well. I wasn't going to give them the chance, that's why I escaped._

_ I ran like a coward when I saw the IOD project and realized the devastating effect it would have on the future of Battery City. Now, I have finally paid for what I've done to the people in the zones. There's more blood on my hands than you could possibly imagine, that's why I could never let it go._

_ That being said, I know that you're pregnant and you're afraid to tell me for fear that I'll panic about it. I'm not scared of having a baby with you or having a family, but I am scared of raising one in this world. I'm doing this for us both and for our child who is the key to everyone's freedom. When he's born (don't argue with me, it's a boy whether you like it or not) test his blood against the drugs and the poison in the seventh zone. He should have the same immunity that I do, since I'm guessing it's passed down genetically. You can use him to find a cure._

_ You can be free. You can leave California. Tell him I love him, alright? And if you can? Name him Zachary._

The letter looked like it had been hastily written on the back of some papers about an experiment that Better Living Industries had been running, since their smiling logo was on the top of the letter head. Vengeful Venom must have decided it was likely he wasn't going to make it out alive somewhere inside of the building and had written a goodbye in hopes someone would give it to her if they ever found his body. Though it provided little to no closure for her, Rainbow Riot knew she had to continue on for Vengeful Venom and for the Killjoys. Sobbing against her arm, she handed the letter to Bad Medicine who audibly gasped after she'd read it and realized what it meant.

"Phoenix Fury!" Bad Medicine yelled even though she was unsure if he was close to her or not, then she turned to address Riot once more. "Stay right there! Don't move, I'm not finished with you!" Medicine hurried away from Riot, to go show Phoenix the letter she'd been handed. Watching her go, Riot felt conflicted. She'd manage to help save everyone except for those who had really mattered to her. It was likely that Fire Frenzy and Party Poison would die in the burning building in front of her. Glancing toward the building she watched as the Killjoys coming out of the entrance carried two more bodies from inside, a man and a woman she didn't recognize. Glancing around in hopes of seeing some sign of Poison or Frenzy, she found none but she saw something that caught her eye.

Fire Frenzy's gun.

There was a little girl and a very injured little boy running from the other side of the building and toward the group of Killjoys. Rainbow Riot got up from where she'd been sitting in the back of Bad Medicine's truck and hurried over to the little kids. Both had tears streaming down their face and looked terrified.

"Come here! Hurry!" Rainbow Riot led them over to the truck and helped them inside, then looked to the little girl. "Where did you get that gun? Who gave it to you?"

"Fire Frenzy, she made me leave with Aaron! She's inside!" Grace cried, tears streaming steadily down her cheeks. She kept her arms around Aaron protectively, as though she was afraid to let him go.

Another explosion rocked the first floor of the building before Rainbow Riot had gotten a chance to respond. Vengeful Venom must have planted some explosives on a timer to go off in the building to ensure that it would give out and collapse to the ground. Rainbow Riot couldn't believe how well planned out his ending had been, as much as it saddened her to think of it.

Killjoys hurriedly began to evacuate the building once the bomb had gone off and Phoenix Fury hurriedly ran to give the order not to let anyone else inside the building.

"But Poison's inside! We can't just leave him! I know he's in there!" Fun Ghoul yelled, trying to get past Phoenix Fury to no avail. It would've been comical to watch the smaller man trying to overpower someone so vastly larger than him if the situation hadn't been so dire.

"He made his choice!" Phoenix yelled over the sound of the building creaking and threatening to crash to the ground. "Everyone back up! Get away! This building is going down! I won't let anyone else die in there!"


	41. Humanity

Party Poison grabbed onto the railing in the stairwell between the second and third floor to steady himself when the building around him began to violently shake. Closing his eyes he muttered a string of curses and prayers under his breath, in hopes the building hadn't given out before he'd found Fire Frenzy. _It would be a pretty pathetic way to die. After all that I've fought through to get this far, I have to at least get laid first_.

While it had only been a few moments, so much had transpired since he'd entered the building with Rainbow Riot. He had almost gone back onto the second floor to help Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow take care of Instigator but before he'd gotten the chance the frame of the doorway had given out under the weight of whatever chaos was happening on the floor above and the frame collapsed, bringing down enough of the wall above it to block the path down to the floor below.

"Fuck it all!" _How the hell am I supposed to get out of here after I find Fire Frenzy? Fuck this stupid building! I will deal with it when I get that far. Can't really escape until I find her._ But somehow Party Poison knew where he'd find her. The floor above him was trembling and he stared upward as though the cause would reveal itself on the way up. Fire Frenzy had to have been involved in some way. When the shaking stopped for long enough, a loud creak interrupted the crackling sound of the fire in the room above. Poison's eyes widened in terror, the thought of the building coming down around him stunning him halfway up the stairs.

_What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time, Party Poison? Okay, deep breaths and ascend the stairs. Just keep moving one foot in front of the other._ _God damnit, the things I'm doing for this woman. Why couldn't I fall for some nice, safe, girl? No, no of course not. Had to be the psychopath. Had to be the pyromaniac who keeps trying to kill me. _It had become far harder to climb the stairs while they were trembling and swaying. A second horrible creaking sound came somewhere from above, but this time the sound was _much_ closer than the last.

Somehow, Poison knew that he had to hurry up these stairs or he'd be crushed in the stairwell before he could make it to the third floor. Not wanting to die, Poison picked up his pace; taking the stairs two at a time he hurried as quickly as he could. Very suddenly a few floors above where Poison stood on the stairs, something collapsed and railing and chunks of concrete stairs came crashing down, plowing through the stairs Poison had just been standing on.

Running faster now and considerably panicked, Poison pulled out his gun though he was unsure how the hell it would help him against a collapsing building, and ran to the platform in front of the third floor before the stairs crumbled beneath him. Kicking open the door to the third floor, Poison rushed inside but nearly ran back into the stairwell at the sight that met him there. A wave of heat rushed over him and he coughed and gagged on the smoke that was filling the room. Covering his mouth was the only thing he could do in defense of his lungs.

Deciding that he was on the right track to finding Frenzy, as if the fact that everything was burning wasn't an obvious clue, he crouched low, pulled his scarf over his face in hopes of blocking out some of the smoke so he could better breathe and continued through the room the best he could.

"Frenzy!" While he wasn't sure anyone would be able to hear him over the creaks and groans the building was emitting or the sound of the fire ripping apart the remainder of the building's interior, he still couldn't help but try. The room looked eerie lit up by the fire as it crept over the walls, engulfing the wallpaper, paintings, signs, and every sign of life that had once filled the laboratories on the third floor. Everything the flames touched starting to wither into ashes.

For the first time, Poison understood why Fire Frenzy found so much beauty in the flames she was so obsessed with. Even the disgusting things that had surely gone on in this building could be erased and purified by the fire. Taking a moment to pause and take in the scene around him in wonder, he wished he'd had a camera to capture the beauty and the horror of this moment. Poison flipped on the book light again and looked around in hopes of finding what he was looking for. Though the fire illuminated the room, it was doing him no favors when it came to seeing through the smoke. _She's in here somewhere, I can tell._ How he could tell, he wasn't sure. He just _knew_ she was somewhere on this floor.

The heat in the room was overwhelming and making him sweat. The smoke was making him gag and choke even under his scarf, but since he had to find a different way out of the building anyway he didn't think it mattered if he lingered in this part of the room. He didn't see any other choices since turning back into the less smoky hallway wasn't an option. Running through the room as fast as his lungs would allow and jumping over debris in his way, Poison stopped in his tracks between the cells on either side of the hallway. Gasping for breath, he reflected for a moment to wish he didn't smoke so many damn cigarettes. Observing his new surroundings Poison nearly dropped his gun. Letting his mouth just hang open, he stared at the bodies of the maimed and tortured children that had been put out of their misery.

Party Poison wasn't religious but he felt it was appropriate to make the Catholic sign of the cross over his chest. _The Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. There was no God here when this happened. I've done more praying in the last hour than I have since I was a kid being dragged to church._

He only managed to gather himself only when he felt something burning on his leg. Realizing his pants had caught fire somewhere along the line, Poison smacked at the singed part of his pants and cursed at the minimal pain the fire had caused. Hurrying once again past the cells with the children in them, he stopped when he reached what had once been a room filled with computers and now looked more like a blood bath; half destroyed, half on fire. Something had clearly exploded in this room. Judging by the holes in the ceiling, the windows and the floor it had clearly been a substantial explosion. _This must be where Riot and I saw that earlier explosion. It was the third floor windows that had been blown out._ While Poison had expected to see the room destroyed, this was _far_ worse than he'd anticipated. Where had all the blood come from?

Staring in awe, Poison realized the gravity of the scene that stood before him. _She did it. Holy shit, she actually did it._ The computers were destroyed, which mean if Better Living Industries didn't have a backup they were momentarily vulnerable. The Killjoys, for the first time since Poison could remember, had the upper hand against Better Living Industries as a whole. There had been scenarios where Party Poison and his men had taken small victories, but this was far more significant than some battle out in the zones, or some successful raid on a caravan moving through the desert.

Now was not the time for Poison to dwell on what could be done now that the computers had been shut down. Not having the time to make plans of attack for his men in the middle of collapsing and burning building, Poison started to look for Fire Frenzy. He'd put his duties as a leader aside so he could save her. _At least that's what I think I'm doing._

It only took a moment to find her through the smoke. A man was standing over her form on the ground and though he had no proof or no way of actually knowing, somehow he knew it was the man that Instigator had been looking for out in the desert. This was the _Destroyer_ she'd been so consumed with finding and he definitely looked out of his mind. He wasn't sure why on earth anyone would _look _for this guy. There was a knife sticking out of his chest, and following the direction of the hilt, Poison's gaze fell on Fire Frenzy who was lying on the ground beneath the man, covered in blood.

Heart skipping a beat, Poison immediately aimed his gun and fired, repeatedly, at the man he was hoping was the source of the blood covering Frenzy. Having not expected his blows to actually _do_ any damage since he'd been unable to hit Instigator upon his first try out in the desert when he'd first encountered her, he was surprised when they _did_ hit their target each time and hard at that. Destroyer stumbled backwards from the impact of the laser blasts in his chest and turned his gaze toward Poison. The man's eyes were alight with rage and hunger, a look that clearly told Poison just how aggravated the man was.

"Oh, shit." Party Poison hadn't thought further than shooting at his target and looked around for somewhere to take cover. There was nowhere suitable that he could find. Every bit of furniture that looked like it might have once provided a substantial hiding place had been broken into pieces, smashed by Destroyer, Poison could only assume. Instead of running away from Destroyer like a coward, Poison did the only thing he could think to do. He aimed his gun and fired again. Destroyer ducked in surprise, looked at the woman lying on the floor at his feet as if to contemplate if she was worth the trouble of her trigger happy counterpart.

"…I'm not finished with you." Destroyer hissed under his breath to Fire Frenzy. He turned away from them both and ran through the debris and out of the room in the opposite direction that Party Poison had come from. Unsure if there was another exit in that direction, Party Poison didn't care. With any luck, Destroyer would get himself stuck in a corner in an attempt to get to the staircase Poison knew was destroyed and get himself killed with the building finally fell.

Running over to Fire Frenzy, Poison crouched down low and kept his gun aimed toward the man who was retreating out of sight. _I could follow after him; I could finish him off once and for all._ Glancing down at Fire Frenzy he saw the blood dripping down her lips and though he could tell most of what was on her face was smeared from somewhere else and not from a wound there, he could see the blood from her lips was genuinely coming from her mouth. Her shirt was saturated in blood and her arm badly swollen to a point where even looking at it made Poison wince.

_I could follow him and kill him before he hurts anyone else the way he's hurt Fire Frenzy. But, if I leave her here the building could fall while I'm chasing him. She doesn't look like she'd make it out of here on her own. So what do you do, Poison? Do you run after the bad guy and blow his head off and save potential future victims or do you save the girl you came all this way to save? The girl who has asked you repeatedly to stop saving her since the moment you met her. The girl who has threatened your life at least three times that you can think of offhand?_

The answer seemed incredibly simple when he put it like that. Putting his gun back in its holster, Poison urged his arms around the small woman, one arm under her knees, the other around her shoulder. He would have to carry her out of the building, he didn't trust she could run. She instantly tried to push him away from her, one hand clutching onto the lighter like it was the only thing that could save her. He wasn't sure if she genuinely wanted him to let go of her, or if instinct was signaling for her to fight anyone who grabbed her.

"…oh Jesus, Party Poison what the fuck happened to your hair?" Fire Frenzy seemed to struggle to recognize him and even though she now realized who this man who was holding onto her was, she didn't stop trying to get him off of her. Party Poison had actually _forgotten_ for a brief moment that he had dyed his hair black until she'd mentioned it. Pouting for only a second, Poison regained his confidence. _I will dye it back later, damnit._

"Well, you were always telling me what a big red target I was, right? So I'm not anymore." Party Poison chuckled quietly. Of all of the things that were going on around them, all the chaos, the hurt, the trouble they were in, all she had to say to him was that his hair had made her panic. "Oh, thank you so much for coming to my rescue Party Poison. I'm _so_ relieved to see you!" Poison mocked her with the response he'd hoped to get with the best impression of her he could muster. "That would kill you to say to me, wouldn't it?"

"You're not funny. And that sounded nothing like me." Fire Frenzy coughed, still trying to squirm away from Poison's grasp. Her body was going numb from the pain and injuries she'd suffered, so at least there was that.

"This place is coming down any minute now. Come on, we've got to get out of here before it does."

"It's too late for that, Poison." Frenzy stopped struggling, realizing there was no chance in hell of her getting him off of her. It had been the first time that she hadn't been able to get Poison off of her and for once, it had nothing to do with his libido.

"No, it's not too late we just need to find another way out of here. We could try to make it to the roof and hop buildings…" Poison mused as he tried to pick her up but she fought him on it tooth and nail. While she had resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to let her go, she wasn't going to make it easy on him either. Regardless of that fact, Poison wasn't going to give up that easily. "I doubt we'd make it there before the building fell. Maybe there's another stairwell? Having the one seems like a fire hazard. Ironic, no?"

"There's another in the back, it's a direct route to the ground." Frenzy groaned in misery from the pain she was causing herself as she struggled to keep Poison from being able to pick her up.

"Will you stop trying to get away from me already? I'm not going to let you go."

"Will you put me the fuck down?" Frenzy countered, eyes angry and frustrated but also glazed over and faded which worried Poison. He _had_ to leave her be. He wasn't part of her plan. He'd never been part of the plan and he'd changed everything from the very beginning of it. She wasn't supposed to see him again after that night in the bar when she'd stolen the drugs from him. He wasn't supposed to steal her lighter. He definitely wasn't supposed to show up during her weakest moments. What was he doing there anyway? Was he out of his mind, coming into a burning building looking for her? What kind of game was he playing at?

"No! Why the _fuck_ would I do that? That sounds counterproductive. You certainly can't walk out of here on your own bleeding like this."

"Because I planted explosives all over the fucking building and if you let me go I can grab my detonators from the bag I dropped. I'll give you enough time to get out through that stairwell and then blow this place to hell. Go, before this place collapses without my help." Party Poison widened his eyes and shook his head adamantly in a negative response.

"This building is going down on its own you don't have to blow it! That would be overkill, Frenzy!"

"Yes I do, Poison. If there's even the tiniest bit of those computers left there's a chance that Better Living Industries will be able to recover some of their information that I destroyed. I can't risk that happening. This place needs to be decimated. This room needs to be completely destroyed, Poison."

"This room _is_ completely destroyed, Frenzy! Take a look around you! I'm not going to let you _kill_ yourself just to take out Better Living Industries!" Party Poison knew that he'd likely have to force her out of the room against her will, since she didn't seem willing to sway her opinion and he didn't have time to convince her otherwise. "I won't let you die because of some sick sense of responsibility you have! This isn't your job, this isn't what you were meant for and we have to go before this place kills us both!"

"One life sacrificed for the good of tens of thousands, Poison. One life!" Frenzy sat up despite her pain and pushed him away with the little force she had left. Curling up, she cradled her wrist close to her bloodied chest and coughed painfully. Watching her made Poison wince and while it was something he'd never admit, his eyes watered. _It's just the smoke._

"Even _one_ innocent life lost isn't worth it, Frenzy! You wouldn't let anyone else take the fall, so why should I let you?"

"I'm willing, Poison! I'm _willing_ to die! And I'm_ far_ from innocent." Frenzy didn't bother looking up at Party Poison and merely cradled her wrist close to her. She wasn't going to let those hazel eyes get the best of her again, not this time. She'd been planning this moment since she was a little girl and there was no way she was going to throw it away because of some _stupid_ hazel eyes.

"You don't deserve to die just because you're not innocent, damnit! I'm not going to leave you here! If not being innocent is what makes you worthy of death then I should've died a long fucking time ago!"

"I'm _already _dying, Poison, you're just wasting your time! You're going to get yourself killed fighting a pointless battle." Frenzy let her left arm lay limp on the ground now, it being too much energy to keep it close to her chest. It looked mangled and broken but Poison couldn't tell if it actually was because of the blood that had dripped over her arm. Pulling her shirt down with her right hand, she showed him the gaping stab wound in her chest and coughed, painfully. Turning his head away from the sight of the wound Poison gagged and tried not to dry heave, covering his mouth and taking a second to regroup.

"You're _not_ going to die. I've lived through worse than that. Come here!" Party Poison grabbed her by her shoulders, despite the wound she had and pulled her close again. She struggled to pull away again but he wasn't going to let her go this time and slipped an arm around her middle. They didn't have a lot of time left in this room before the ceiling above them gave out, or worse the floor beneath them gave out. Both of them seemed to know just how little time was left.

"God damnit, you're a stubborn pain in my ass Poison! Just let me do this! I'm tired of you interfering with my life!"

"No." Party Poison wasn't going to argue with her anymore on the subject. He'd carry her out of the building against her will if he had to. Grabbing the front of her shirt he held his breath and braced himself for his gag reflex to kick in at the sight of it. The wound on her chest looked like it stood no chance of scabbing over and judging by the amount of blood she'd already lost, if she lost much more she'd die before they finished arguing. "I have to stop the bleeding or you'll die."

"We already established a _long_ time ago that you suck at this wound wrapping thing." Fire Frenzy didn't have any more energy left to fight him so she sat there in his arms and wished she had her gun. Of course, she could grab for his but part of her_ wanted_ to be saved. _After how far you've come to get to this point, you're going to let him save you? The chances of you living are slim to nothing anyway. You've got to talk him out of it! I know I have to talk him out of it but he's stubborn. Well, so are you Frenzy. Talk him out of it. This is where you die. This is your last stand. All those years you hunted the Dracs and tried to save those little lives, the lives of those kids that were just like you and you finally did it. You finally made the difference you've been trying to make since you were a little girl and you're going to let him ruin it? I can't let him take this from me._

Frenzy's head was swimming; she didn't know who to listen to. She found that she'd let her forehead rest down against Poison's shoulder without realizing it. It wasn't out of some kind of search for comfort, just that she couldn't seem to keep it upright any longer without becoming incredibly dizzy. It didn't matter much now. She was too sick and too weak to work the detonators. She'd have to let the building fall on its own, without the added help of the C4. With any luck she would be able to get Poison to leave her in the wreckage so she could wait for the building to come down around her and end her misery.

"I don't care, Frenzy. I have to try."

"We don't have anything to stop the bleeding with. I need stitches at the very least. Give it up already, Poison. Let me lay in the bed I've been making for years. You have to lead the Killjoys and finish what I started here. This doesn't stop Better Living, it just slows them down." Frenzy coughed against his shoulder. Poison pushed her head up so he could look at the wound better. Her hair was obstructing his view. She was right, he didn't have anything to wrap the wound with and nothing to stitch it up with either. His jacket wouldn't rip easily enough and wouldn't absorb her blood to help her clot.

He could take off his shirt and do it though and just as he figured that would be the course of action to take he remembered something. In his pocket was the nightgown he'd found in Death-iNation's apartment. Pulling it out of his pocket, he tore it in half and tied the shoulder straps together.

"It's only temporary, but if I can get you out of here then I can find something to stitch you up with. You've got a pretty nasty cut on the back of your head here too…" Poison had noticed it when she'd rested her head down against his shoulder. Destroyer had put her through the ringer, and while he wasn't sure what had transpired for him to go after her so viciously, he didn't need to know. Not now at least. _I just need to get her out of here alive. For once, the aftermath really is secondary._

"Please, Poison?" Frenzy lifted her gaze in hopes she could convince him. "Let me die."

Party Poison held up the remainder of the reddish orange nightgown and for a moment contemplated letting her go. She looked lost, confused, and half dead already. Maybe letting her go with the building would be the humane thing to do. _What about me? What will happen to me if I let her go? Then I'll be alone again. Not that there's anything official between us but what if there could be? I came all this way to find her; I'm not going to let her go without a fight._

"Where did you get that?" Frenzy recognized the nightgown as the one she'd worn in Death-iNation's apartment when Marilyn had been washing her clothes. She was only a little surprised to see it.

"It doesn't matter."

"Party Poison, Marilyn and Nation are downstairs. You need to go help them. Not me. They need you. This is where _I_ belong. In the fire. This is how it always should've been from the very beginning." Frenzy was desperate, unsure how much longer she could fight the darkness creeping in on the edge of her vision. If she passed out, he'd carry her out of the building anyway.

"I know they're here, Frenzy. They sent me up here because Marilyn knew, somehow, that I was here to find you." Party Poison shook his head. "No one wants you to die in this place."

"We don't have time to argue this anymore, you're going to end up dying with me because you're stubborn and pig-headed!"

"Fine!" Party Poison wrapped the nightgown around the wound, tucking it underneath her shirt and tightening it, watching as she coughed and gagged in pain from the pressure he'd put on the wound. With any luck it'd at least slow the bleeding down and give Poison a chance to get Frenzy the real help she needed. The only problem with that, was that all the doctors he knew were not conveniently located. "Fine, Fire Frenzy. If you die then I'm going down with you. Is that what you want? You're not sacrificing yourself for something that you don't need to. I can save you from this hell. _Let_ me save you. _Let _me help you. You don't have to do everything alone!"

"That's not fair, Poison."

"Neither is what you're doing to me."

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

"So you keep telling me." Party Poison forced a smile for a fleeting moment and placed his hand underneath her chin, forcing her to look up at him. Her blue eyes were a faded gray. "You told me before you left the camp that the only hope for you was for me to be alone." Though he didn't expect her to reciprocate, he pressed his lips to her bloodied ones in a kiss. If this was going to be the last kiss he ever got, he was going to make it worth it. He was going to make it change her mind. Still supporting her chin to keep her looking up at him, he continued after he pulled away. "I don't think that's right at all. I think that the only hope for me… _is_ you. That's it. I think I could be the only hope for you too, if you'd just stop being so hell bent on dying for long enough to let me!"

Frenzy still hated his hazel eyes, but she was actually considering his offer. Her heart was aching, but she wasn't sure if it was from blood loss or Poison's offer. She also hated that he was a good kisser and that she was falling prey to someone that she had promised herself she wouldn't fall prey too. There were so many women before her and it was stupid to keep living just for _one_ person. _Or is it?_ Frenzy didn't know. But she was running out of time to figure it out. She honestly didn't think she'd survive their attempt to escape the building, even if she agreed to go with him.

"My bag of detonators is near that gaping hole in the floor where the computers were before I blew them up. If you grab that on our way out, we can blow the building when we've gotten out of it." Fire Frenzy didn't need to answer his question directly. Admitting that she was giving in wouldn't be easy for her and it wasn't the time or place to discuss it. She hoped that Party Poison wasn't so arrogant that he'd make her say it before they left the building, because she was sure they'd both die waiting for that to happen.

"Thank God." Party Poison sighed in relief, after realizing he'd been holding his breath while waiting to see what she'd say. "I was about two seconds from just forcing you out of the damn building and convincing you later."

"If you had done that then I would've grabbed your gun and ended it myself." Frenzy countered. Poison chuckled and shook his head.

"See, you're not dying. You're going to be _just_ fine." Poison cradled her as he had done earlier and lifted her up. The room was filling with smoke, he could barely make out the remainder of the room. "Where's the bag?" Frenzy pointed weakly toward the hole in the ground.

"Careful, the floor's unstable." Poison made his way through the debris and the smoke with Frenzy in his arms. Leaning down he made to grab the bag that was lying, half on fire, on the ground. Before he could, harsh pale and pained looking hands, partially sewn together grabbed it and pulled it out his reach. Standing up straight again, defensively, Party Poison took a step backwards.

"You and I have some unfinished business, Party Poison." Korse spoke, a mocking tone to his cold dead voice. He'd been watching the scene play out between the two Killjoys from the doorway and had been waiting for the perfect moment to make his move.

"God damnit, I don't have time for you right now, Korse!" Party Poison whispered a string of curses beneath his breath. Fire Frenzy had closed her eyes and buried her face against Party Poison's chest after seeing Korse. Now that she'd given into the fact that she was going to let him save her, for once, she was comforted by him being there, despite the new dangerous situation they were in.

"Oh you will _make_ time for me. What other choice do you really have? And it's the Scarecrow to you Poison. Didn't you _give_ me that name anyway? You and those nasty Killjoys?" Korse wasn't smiling the way he usually was when he saw Party Poison. "Put down the girl and fight me like a man." Korse stared him down, waiting for him to take action. "Go on. If you win, you get the detonators that she says are in this bag and if you don't then I get your head."

"No." Poison shook his head. Glancing down at Frenzy, he saw how pale she was next to his brightly colored jacket and knew he didn't have the time to put her down. If he fought Korse she would bleed out and die before he could finish the fight.

"What do you mean _no_? This is your chance, Party Poison. You can kill me, right now. Just put the girl down and shoot me, right between the eyes. Come on." Korse egged Poison on, hoping to get a rise out of him.

"I said no!"

"And why the hell not? What, is the notoriously famous Party Poison scared? The man feared by Dracs and admired by his peers? I should have known that deep down you are a coward."

"I'd rather die at your hands trying to save her life than watch her die just to get a chance to kill you." Party Poison stood his ground, prepared for the shot that would surely come following his statement. Korse stared at Party Poison, conflicted for the first time in a battle since he'd been rebuilt. When the shot didn't come, Poison felt sincerely confused.

Korse put away his weapon, picked up the bag and walked past Party Poison and Fire Frenzy.

"What are you doing?" Poison saw the door to the stairwell behind where Korse had been standing, now within his reach, but he didn't want to take his eyes off of Korse. _What the hell is going on? He's been trying to kill me since I marked his face up and now he has the chance to end it and he chickens out? What the hell is happening?_

Korse knelt down next to where the wreckage of the computers was in the corner of the room. He pushed the debris aside and lifted a secret panel in the flooring that remained. He pulled out what looked like a massive computer hard drive, still functioning properly. Poison stared in awe. Korse held a button on the back of the machine, a reset that would go through and reformat the drive and erase the contents of it.

"Everyone thinks that Better Living Industries doesn't keep a backup of these files but that's a lie. A lie planted by Better Living to keep you Killjoys from trying to look for this."

"What are you doing?" Poison was almost afraid to ask, but morbid curiosity forced him to. What if Korse was copying the files and everything Fire Frenzy had done had been in vain? She'd worked so hard to get to this point he wouldn't be able to break it to her that it had all been for naught.

"I'm erasing it." Korse answered quietly, sounding almost shy to admit what he was doing.

"Why?" Party Poison had never been more confused in his life. Here he was, standing in the clutches of his mortal enemy and the man was _helping_ him.

"I used to be a noble general. I used to have dignity. I should've died that day overlooking the City. Ever since I woke back up in the Scarecrow Unit, made to mock what the Killjoys had done, I've been searching for the humanity I lost. I have memories of it… thin… traces of what I once was." Poison remained silent, slowly backing up toward the doorway, taking turns between looking at his feet to make sure he watched his footing and glancing back at Korse to make sure the man didn't pull his gun and kill him after having a sudden change of heart.

"So?"

"So, no matter how many of you little brats I've killed… No matter how many women I've raped, maimed, how many children's lives I've destroyed I've felt nothing. Do you know what it's like to feel nothing no matter what you do? No love, no hate, no anger, no frustration, no anything…"

"No, I'm pretty fucking full of emotion so I can't say I do." Party Poison's voice quavered.

"He is." Fire Frenzy added in her two cents and Poison would've smiled if he didn't feel absolutely terrified.

"It's like my own personal hell. All I ever feel is… empty." Korse finished up with the computer, placing it back in its hidden compartment on the floor. He placed the bag that he'd taken from the floor in front of him. Opening it he pulled out the detonators that Frenzy had intended to use to blow the building with.

"What do you plan to do now?" Party Poison didn't understand. If he was fighting to find his humanity why would he suddenly give up on the fight and start helping the Killjoys? Him of all people? Not that Party Poison wanted Korse to pull his gun and go after him while he was trying to save Fire Frenzy from herself, but it _was_ what made sense.

"I haven't felt a single thing since I woke up that day in the Scarecrow Unit." Korse repeated, investigating the workings of the detonators and turned to look back at Party Poison once more. "Not until now. I don't know what it is about you, you little fucker but… You made me feel something. I don't know what it was, but it was _something_." Korse looked back at the detonators, looking curious.

"Poison he's going to blow the place." Fire Frenzy whispered, having opened her eyes to figure out what was going on for herself a few moments prior. Why Poison wasn't grasping this concept on his own, she wasn't sure. She was laying half dead in his arms, vision blurred but she could still tell where this was going.

"Go. Before I change my mind." Korse turned his back on Poison and Frenzy and started to walk away. "I'll give you ten minutes to get out of the way."

"But what about you?"

"Go!" Korse hissed in the familiar voice filled with hate and rage that Poison had become so used to. It had never occurred that all the anger that Poison had witnessed coming from Korse had been a masked attempt at feeling something. Without a second thought, Poison turned back toward the door that Korse had come in from and ran, watching his footing to make sure that he didn't fall through a weak part of the floor, trying to avoid catching on fire in the process. Hurrying through the door, Poison carried Frenzy down the stairs, quickly running out of breath but he knew he didn't have time to stop and properly breathe.

Down three flights of stairs he ran and though he stumbled at the bottom from the momentum he'd built on the stairs, he ran to the fire exit that looked like it had been broken open earlier in the day. Using his foot to open the door with a swift kick, Poison ran through it and out into the alleyway. Turning the corner out of the alleyway behind the building, he continued to run as far from the building as he could until he reached the street. He coughed as he stopped momentarily and cursed, once again, at the fact that he'd smoked so many cigarettes over the past few years.

Looking back at the building, Poison realized he wasn't nearly far enough away from it to avoid damage when it came crashing down and knew he was running out of time. Continuing at a run down the street, he hoped he could take refuge behind another building and avoid running into any police in the process. He hadn't thought about how hard it would be to escape after all had been said and done. Frenzy started coughing against his chest and he could feel the blood spraying onto his neck and through his shirt.

"Shit, shit! Frenzy? Frenzy, are you okay?" When she didn't respond, Poison stopped running and knelt down on the ground resting the woman down so she was propped up against the wall of the building a few doors down from the one he was so sure would collapse any minute now thanks to Korse and the explosives that Fire Frenzy had planted during her time inside of Central Command.

_I'm still trying to figure out how to wrap my mind around what happened in there. Why did Korse help us? Is he really going to do as he promised and sacrifice himself? Why am I okay with Korse sacrificing himself when I wasn't okay with Frenzy doing the same thing? Maybe because he was barely human to begin with? Or maybe it's because he already had the chance to live. Fire Frenzy's been living for everyone but herself as far as I can tell. Maybe that's it._

There were about three thousand questions that Poison wanted to know the answers too but there wasn't enough time to figure any of them out at this particular moment. Part of him understood there would never be any answers to most of his questions, just the constant nag of the unknown to plague him for the rest of what would surely be a short life out in the dangerous zones.

Frenzy's skin had faded to gray. She had her eyes closed and wasn't responding to his shakes and prods. Poison smacked her cheek lightly to try and get a rise out of her but she didn't budge when he'd half expected her to smack him in return. Her skin didn't feel cold or clammy, but that wasn't really how death worked was it?

"Frenzy? Frenzy, wake up! You're _not_ going to die on me. Not now! Not after all I went through to get you out of there!" Party Poison was too stubborn to let her go that easily and he was hoping that Fire Frenzy wasn't going to give up, though he couldn't be sure of her opinion on the subject after the argument they'd had on the third floor. Party Poison was desperate to get a rise out of her and shook her shoulders much harder than he had on previous attempts to wake her.

Coughing and gasping for breath she opened her eyes, but they only stayed open for a moment before she closed them again and continued to cough and leaned heavily once again against the wall behind her.

"Damnit, stay awake Frenzy! You can't sleep yet!" Poison shook her again to try and get her to open her eyes again.

"Just leave me." Frenzy whispered feebly, sounding almost annoyed that he kept trying to get her to wake up.

"I told you, I can't do that!"

"Not because of that bullshit, Poison." Frenzy managed to open her eyes halfway. It was all she could seem to manage at this point. Her limbs felt numbed and heavy, her breath was short and pained and even her heart felt like it couldn't keep up. "You have to get away before the building comes down. I'm holding you back. You're out of breath and practically wheezing from trying to carry me."

"No, no, we're not done here yet, you and I. You know we're not done here. I can't let you go..."

"Can't or _won't_?" Party Poison didn't answer and instead picked her up again off of the ground, then after a moment of walking, still out of breath, he responded.

"I won't. I'm a selfish prick, so sue me." Hurrying his walk to a jog, he tried to get as far from the building as he could, walking down the nearly abandoned block. The power had been shut down in the City, some of the nearby buildings were on fire and the air was filled with a mixture of fog and smoke. The rain had subsided while they were in the building but heavy dark clouds hung overhead, blocking out any light the moon would have provided them with.

"What about the others still inside the building, Poison? What about Death-iNation and Marilyn Deathrow?" Frenzy's words were slurred and barely audible, but Poison listened desperately for them, taking them as signs she was still alive.

"They don't matter right now, Frenzy. Hopefully they got out on their own. All that matters is I get you the help you need."

"Poison…"

"Don't argue with me about this, I'm saving you, damnit. This is happening whether or not you want it to."

"No… it's not that." Frenzy leaned her head heavily against Poison's shoulder once again, closing her eyes. The fact that she _hadn't_ fought him worried Poison greatly. "I remembered something. Something I thought I forgot a very long time ago. You made me want to remember, but I couldn't… not until I was inside that building."

"What is it, Frenzy?"

"…you kept asking me what my name was."

"Don't tell me, Frenzy. You've still got to fight with me over it!" Party Poison didn't want to know, it was too close to her saying goodbye to him. "Open your eyes, come on. No sleeping, remember?" Frenzy grimaced in response and opened her eyes at his request, though it pained her to do so and only succeeded in making her nauseated.

"Stephanie." Fire Frenzy coughed and told him her name anyway. Party Poison didn't respond. When she would ask him later if he remembered what she had admitted, he'd deny it up and down, but in reality he would never forget.

"Don't say anything right now, okay? I'm going to get you the help you need, Frenzy." Rounding the corner of the block, he stopped short as there was a terribly loud noise behind them. Poison ducked behind a nearby building and faced the wall. He leaned Frenzy against it and held her in his arms protectively so any of the debris that might have met them would hit him instead of her. He pulled the scarf back up around his face and untied it a bit so he could hold the end carefully against Frenzy's as well in hopes of avoiding the dust and debris that would come down with the building they had narrowly escaped from.

When the wall of dust hit them, it was like an ocean wave engulfing them both for a very short period of time. Holding Frenzy, he could hear her making a noise of upset. It was a comfort to him to hear her making any sort of sound at this point. He couldn't imagine what it felt like for her to have her final plans come to fruition, only to have him change them for her at the end. When her right hand touched his cheek in search of comfort, he placed his left hand over it and kissed her scarred palm.

Finally, when the dust had begun to settle and the shaking had stopped completely, they were met with nothing but the silence of the night. There were no voices on the wind, no screams of pain and agony, and no sounds of explosions or chaos anywhere around them. It was haunting after having adjusted to so much going on. After Poison was sure that nothing would collapse on top of him and Frenzy, he got up from the place he'd hidden them both, wiped some of the concrete dust off of Frenzy's cheeks, then started back around the corner to survey the damage that had been done to the rest of the street.

All that was left of Central Command was a heap of rubble. The building to its left had been half destroyed, and the one on its right had collapsed entirely from the impact of the Command center falling. Water was bursting from pipes that been destroyed and flooded the streets. The sound of it rushing comforted Poison. The silence had become frustrating.

Stopping short once he was closer to the building that he'd only moments ago been inside of and trying to escape from, he stared in awe at the Killjoys who had come to help them. He hadn't anticipated to find anyone so close by who would be able to help Fire Frenzy with her wounds. Distracted by the things happening around him, he stopped trying to keep Fire Frenzy awake. Poison hurried over to the Killjoys gathered outside of the building, trying to make sense of how it had all ended. He wanted to know how Phoenix had known to come to Central Command; he wanted to know who had gotten out of the building alive.

Once again, there were three hundred questions to ask and he was only likely to get answers to about half of them.

"Poison!" Rainbow Riot's voice came calling out from somewhere in the lingering dust. She sounded shocked and excited to see the man coming down the sidewalk. Poison couldn't see Riot, but he recognized her voice. Upon having shouted his name, the Killjoys started to buzz with excitement and rushed over to him.

Fun Ghoul was heading the pack coming toward him and when he went to hug his friend he stopped short seeing his hands were currently full. Hurrying over to where he heard the woman's voice, ignoring the questions being fired at him about his well being, he stopped mid-stride. There were bodies lined up on the ground.

Poison walked past Rainbow Riot and as he approached the figures on the ground, he recognized them all immediately.

"Fuck." Poison muttered. Vengeful Venom, Marilyn Deathrow, and Death-iNation lay on the ground in a row, Bad Medicine working on covering up their remains. Fire Frenzy glanced down at the bodies lying in front of her and though she was upset to see the only people she'd ever considered her friends dead in front of her, she didn't have the energy to express it. While she had promised herself before going into the building that she wouldn't feel any guilt if anything had befallen them it was nearly impossible to keep such a promise when she saw the result of her actions in front of her.

_It should've been me._ The sounds around her were fading, all that was left was her guilt.

The creeping doubt in her mind didn't leave her be, even when she could barely think. The darkness around her vision was closing in as she stared at the bodies on the ground. Fleetingly, she wondered if Grace and Aaron had made it out alive. She could hear Party Poison talking to someone nearby, but she couldn't even recognize who it was. Maybe it was Phoenix Fury? She couldn't be sure. There was a ringing in her ears that was blocking out all the other sounds which she was sure there were many of.

"I need a medic, where's your medic Phoenix?" Poison had almost been at a loss for words when he'd seen the remains of the Killjoys on the ground. He'd have time to mourn later, and to bury his friends, but for now, he just wanted to make sure there wasn't a fourth body to bury.

Before Phoenix could respond there was the sound of something metal hitting the concrete. Party Poison and Phoenix Fury glanced downward to see what had made the noise.

Frenzy's lighter was lying on the sidewalk next to Marilyn Deathrow. Both men then looked at the woman Poison was carrying in his arms.

Her eyes were closed.


End file.
